Ecuador

Some cities in Ecuador have homicide rates among the world's highest.

Ecuador's geographic position between Peru and Colombia has made it a major transit corridor for cocaine and other drugs bound for the United States and Europe.

International drug trafficking cartels collaborate with local criminal gangs in Ecuador and exert influence across key port cities and extensive areas of the Pacific coast.

As of 2025, most cocaine destined for the United States originates along Colombia’s Pacific coast and commonly transits through Ecuador, Peru, or Venezuela before moving north via the Caribbean, Mexico, or increasingly via Pacific maritime routes.

Ecuador is geographically located between Colombia and Peru and has become a major transit hub for narcotics.

There is little evidence that fentanyl is produced in the Andes region (which includes Ecuador), and the vast majority of fentanyl that flows into the United States enters through Mexico.

In the early 2010s, Ecuador was considered one of the most peaceful countries in South America.

Since the 2010s, Ecuador has become a key transit point for cocaine produced in neighboring Colombia and Peru, a development that has been associated with spikes in homicides and other violent crimes.