Last year, Ecuadorians watching the popular television show El Noticiero were shocked when chaos erupted on screen. Masked intruders with shotguns, handguns, and explosives stormed the live set, forcing the anchors and crew to the ground at gunpoint and flaunting their weapons to the camera. The rampage was broadcast across the country to a horrified audience. The dramatic episode was just one of the more visible instances of social decay in a country that is slowly being crushed beneath the weight of violence and criminality. With a murder rate of over 45 people per 100,000 in 2023—nearly nine times that of the U.S.—Ecuador is the most dangerous country in Latin America and one of the most violent countries in the world. Only Jamaica has a higher rate of intentional homicides.

It was not always like this. In 2017, Ecuador was one of the safest, most stable countries in Latin America, with a murder rate equivalent to that of the United States and an economy that had doubled over the past decade. The left-wing Carlos Correa had just finished a long and prosperous presidency over the small nation, which benefited from the increasing development of its oil and mineral reserves, and looked set to grow steadily and peacefully under his hand-picked successor Lenín Moreno.

That dream has since gone up in smoke and ashes. The past several years have seen a veritable explosion of crime and corruption that has drowned out any capacity for government response.

The catalyst for the explosion is Ecuador’s location and its status as a major exporter of agricultural goods—a useful front for the transportation of cocaine. To exploit the opportunities available in the country, narcoterrorists have filtered south from neighboring Colombia, while Albanian crime lords have steadily infiltrated the country from overseas. Local organized crime, which had long been a set of weak gangs, has secured connections with the cartels of Mexico, providing them with a massive influx of cash and weapons.