SUMMARY
The territory that was to become modern-day Ecuador was conquered by Spanish conquistadors in the 16th century, defeating an Inca Empire torn by civil conflict. Colonization by Spanish settlers followed for hundreds of years and Ecuador declared its independence from Spain in 1822, but almost immediately entered into the union of “Gran Colombia”, created by the legendary Simón Bolívar. Ecuador’s stay within Gran Colombia was however short-lived, and the country proclaimed complete independence in 1830.
Ecuador was ruled by conservative politicians from the landlord class at independence. The 19th century and most of the 20th century became eras of political turmoil, due to intense political rivalries and several periods of authoritarian rule, coupled with economic depression throughout the 20th century and a salient military regime. In 1979 control was relinquished to an elected civilian government, beginning Ecuador’s consolidation of a stable yet weak parliamentary democracy.
Violence in Ecuador has surged dramatically since 2020, marking a sharp contrast with the relative calm of previous decades. In the late 2000s and early 2010s, organized crime violence was largely contained, with a few dominant gang leaders maintaining internal order. This fragile stability began to unravel when authorities attempted to dismantle gang hierarchies by relocating incarcerated leaders, inadvertently spreading gang influence to additional prisons and enabling the formation of new splinter groups. The late 2020 assassination of the leader of Choneros, one of the country’s most powerful gangs, triggered internal power struggles that erupted into large-scale violence. In 2021, two major outbreaks in the dyads Los Choneros – Los Chone Killers, Los Lobos, Los Pipos, Los Tiguerones and Los Choneros – Los Lobos each resulted in over 100 deaths. This was further enhanced with the entrenchment of international organized crime groups and drug cartels, particularly the Mexican Sinaloa Cartel, Jalisco Cartel New Generation, and Colombian and Albanian drug trafficking groups, have entrenched themselves in the country, disputing control over vital ports, fueling the activities of local groups. 2022 the fighting between Los Lobos – R7 in two of the country’s prisons, resulted in nearly 100 casualties.
In 2023, Ecuador entered a period of profound political instability marked by corruption scandals, weakened institutions, and escalating violence. That year, President Guillermo Lasso dissolved the National Assembly amid an impeachment process, a constitutional maneuver that diminished trust in governmental institutions. Subsequent elections occurred in an atmosphere of fear and insecurity, highlighted by the assassination of presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio on 9 August 2023, perpetrated by Los Lobos. Daniel Noboa, a businessman from the officially central-left party Acción Democrática Nacional (ADN), was elected in October 2023. During the second half of the year, the “New Generation” alliance that united Los Chone Killers, Los Lobos, Los Pipos, Los Tiguerones broke down, and Los Chone Killers and Los Tiguerones instead allied with Los Choneros, leading to a brief decrease in violence. Meanwhile, Los Lobos expanded into interior provinces, fueling clashes Los Choneros over extortion and illegal mining. That same year saw significant militarization as the authorities deployed armed forces nationwide, giving rise to human rights abuses such as extrajudicial killings.
Since 1989, Ecuador has experienced interstate and non-state categories of organized violence, as defined by UCDP.
2024
In 2024, Ecuador experienced a significant escalation in violence related to organized crime following the January prison escape of José Adolfo Macías Villamar, alias Fito, leader of Los Choneros. The government responded with a “Mano Dura” policy under President Daniel Noboa, deploying the military to prisons and urban areas and designating 22 criminal groups as terrorist organizations. These interventions disrupted gang structures, triggering internal fragmentation and the emergence of splinter groups. Major clashes broke out between factions of Los Tiguerones in Guayaquil and between Los Lobos and a splinter group, Los Saobox, in Azuay and El Oro, while the long-running conflicts between Los Choneros and Los Lobos in Manabí and between Chone Killers and Latin Kings in Durán remained among the most violent in the country. The entry of Los Lobos into Manabí, a traditional Choneros stronghold, marked a shift in territorial control, as groups competed over drug routes, extortion, and illegal mining.
Violence during the first decade of the 2000s
Animosities between the Huaorani and the Tagaeri resulted in the Huaorani - Tagaeri conflict in 2003, when Huaorani carried out a raid on a Tagaeri settlement resulting in 26 battle-related deaths.
Conflicts in neighboring Colombia has also on a few occasions spilled over to Ecuador’s territory. For instance there were fighting between AUC and FARC in 2001 in Ecuador’s amazon jungle. In 2008 the Government of Colombia carried out a military operation against a FARC camp in the jungle killing at least 20 FARC rebels, including one of their a top leaders, and 4 civilians. The operation took place in north eastern province Sucumbíos bordering with Colombia’s southern province of Putumayo.
Pre-1989 conflicts
In 1941 Ecuador engaged in a military dispute with its neighbor Peru, over a piece of territory in the Amazon basin that both countries laid claim to. The weak Ecuadorian army was quickly defeated, but under pressure from outside parties the two countries signed an accord in 1942, officially ending the dispute and awarding the territory to Peru. The border was however never clearly demarcated, and Ecuador later denounced the accord. Sporadic border clashes occurred in the following decades, and in early 1995, armed conflict broke out in the Cenepa Valley between the two countries. Clashes continued during the year, and so did negotiations between the two governments facilitated by Argentina, Brazil, Chile and the United States. These negotiations brought an end to the armed conflict, and a peace agreement was signed in 1998. The border was formally demarcated the following year.
