Ecuador’s Problem with Organized Crime, An Interview

• ElComercio.com interviews Francesco Forgione, former president of the Italian Anti-Mafia Commission and a criminal organization specialist.
• With no visa required of foreigners, Ecuador attracts criminal groups like Ndrangheta, the world’s most dangerous mafia, interested in coca.
• As a coca producer, Ecuador has become a crossroads for organized crime due to the increase in production and trafficking of coca.
• Ecuador has become a meeting point for criminal organizations.
• Many Italian mafias have counterparts in South America where they buy cocaine and other drugs.
• Reportedly, mafias have no known connection with Al Qaeda, but connection with paramilitary sectors in Colombia and links with Mexican gangs.
• Venezuela has close links with the Italian Mafia. It also has the largest Italian migration rates in South America.
• To combat drug trafficking countries need prevention, policy of control and repression of traffickers and a switch to legal crops.Read Article