QUITO — Ecuador’s capital has become a new battleground for criminal groups, as a government crackdown on gangs in the country’s port cities pushes splinter factions to seek new territory, Reuters reported Thursday.
Police say Los Lobos, Los Choneros and Los Tiguerones — all designated by the United States as foreign terrorist organizations — are present in Quito. “Organized crime groups are trying to establish a foothold in Quito,” said Lieutenant Colonel Miguel Saavedra, whose army brigade is checking cars for weapons at entry points to the city.
President Daniel Noboa has responded with a broad military, police and legislative crackdown, and about 4,000 police and military personnel have been deployed at entry points and along strategic corridors in Quito. Police arrested more than 300 people in the first six weeks of the plan, and drug seizures in the city rose nearly 500% between January and September compared with a year earlier.
Violent deaths in Quito fell in 2024 and 2025 from a high of 294 in 2023, according to Interior Ministry data, and remain below levels in the port cities of Guayaquil and Durán. But analysts say the captures of gang leaders have fragmented the groups and spread the violence.
“In Quito’s case, international cartels and national gangs are beginning to converge and establish themselves,” security analyst Colonel Mario Pazmiño, a former head of army intelligence, told Reuters.
Sources: Reuters, Devdiscourse / Reuters
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