Europe and Switzerland are partly responsible for the chaos in Ecuador
In recent years, Ecuador has become a hub for cocaine trafficking. Some of this cocaine also lands in Switzerland. Because the Swiss are among the largest consumers in Europe.
12.01.2024, 11:59
12.01.2024, 12:40
Revolts in prisons, hostage-taking, state of emergency: the revolt of drug gangs in Ecuador has caused an escalation of violence. The millions of cocaine users in Europe have their share of responsibility: they finance the business of the drug mafia, which is worth billions.

Adolfo Macías, aka “Fito”, the criminal on the run who terrorizes Ecuador
And the Swiss weigh heavily in the balance. Indeed, Zurich, Basel, Geneva and Saint Gall are among the European cities where cocaine is most present, as shown in the report from the European Monitoring Center for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA), based on the analysis of waste. Historically, the consumption and availability of cocaine in Europe is very high.

After 2023, 2024 should be another record year
It is almost only in the cities of Belgium and the Netherlands – where cocaine from South America arrives en masse – that more cocaine is consumed than in Switzerland. More precisely, in the ports of Antwerp (Belgium), Rotterdam and Amsterdam (Netherlands). Many deliveries come from Guayaquil, which in recent years has become one of the cocaine transshipment centers. The Ecuadorian city is now in the spotlight, with fights between gangs and the taking of hostages in the television studio.

Violence does not abate in Ecuador, “in a state of war”
And these numbers continue to rise, if we estimate the total amount smuggled from seized cocaine, especially since 2016. This could be due to the peace agreement with the Colombian Farc guerrillas, which disrupted the cocaine market. Production has reached new heights and more and more cocaine, more and more pure, is being shipped to Europe.

While in 2019, 64 tonnes of cocaine were seized in the port of Antwerp, this figure increased to around 90 tonnes in 2021 and 110 tonnes in 2022 – a record. It is likely that a new high will have been reached in 2023. In October alone, investigators seized 23 tonnes of cocaine with a street value of almost 2 billion euros in Antwerp.

“Switzerland consumes a lot of cocaine, from the banker to the worker”
The quantity seized is now so large that Belgian incinerators can no longer cope with the destruction. Customs authorities are sounding the alarm as armed gangs are trying to recover cocaine stored in warehouses. Yet seizures represent only a fraction of the actual quantity: around 10%, according to estimates.

Trial against 129 accused in Brussels
And with cocaine comes violence. Both in the Netherlands and in Belgium, shootings and power struggles between rival gangs are increasing. In early 2023, the eleven-year-old niece of a drug lord was shot dead in Antwerp. In 2021, the famous journalist Peter de Vries was killed in the street in Amsterdam, presumably by the Moroccan Mocro Maffia. Gang violence is also increasing in Brussels, where cocaine is often processed before being distributed across Europe.

Belgium has now placed the fight against cocaine traffickers at the top of its agenda. The problem must also be tackled at Union level, because it concerns all of Europe. The largest criminal trial in the country's history is currently taking place in Brussels with 129 defendants, many of whom are of Albanian nationality. They are accused of having organized a cocaine network on a European scale from Belgium.