Ecuador, Quito
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He says he was 18 when he first joined the Ecuadorian gang 10 years ago. The man, now a senior commander with a wife and children, barely casually admits that he is contributing to the deadly drug trade that is plaguing the country.
“Yes, I’m part of the problem,” he tells CNN’s David Culver, agreeing to talk, but darkened, away from the crowd, disguising his face.
“They gave me everything,” he said of the gang, claiming he joined them out of despair. Ten years later, he says he won’t quit, saying, “It’s a huge economy and no one wants to let go of a good business.”
Ensuring such a conversation meant running on a compact, tightly tuned crew, including CNN producer Abel Alvarado, research producer Barbara Arvanitidis, photojournalist Alex Platt and security coordinator Crendon Greenway. Together they sailed through gang territory, military raids and far-flung seas, capturing the story in new documentaries.
In Esmeralda, a coastal province where cocaine is often imported from Colombia, he spoke to authorities and residents about how violence has overturned everyday life. In Los Rios, a region that produces many of Ecuadorian banana exports, after leaving the farm, drug traffickers often visited plantations to learn how to slide cocaine into fruit containers. In the coastal city of Manta, they were on military ships to see how authorities worked to stop smugglers at sea before they arrived in the US or other countries. And in the Galapagos Islands, they quietly saw an ecotourism hotspot that became a “gas station” for drug boats.
The executive, a documentary produced by Susan Chun, rarely sees how Ecuador has become a super highway for Narco. It airs Sunday at 9pm on CNN’s “The Whole Story with Anderson Cooper.”
Below, Calver and Alvarado, from Ecuador, discuss their report. Their answers are compiled for clarity and brevity.
What drew you to the story and ultimately forced you to produce this documentary?
Culver: We’ve been covering Ecuador together in early 2024 from this surge in violence. That was actually my first trip to Ecuador. And I was caught off guard at that moment and seeing what looked like such a normal and relevant society caught me off guard.
How does the country go from such a paradise, island of peace to a chaos? And from the outside, it all seemed to have happened in a day. But then, when you start pulling the thread, you start to realize there is a lot to get into.
Alvarado: I’ve been to Ecuador more for stories than I recently visited my family. And these stories have continued to grow and grow over the past few years. I remember the first story I featured for CNN. It was a protest. It was very internal. Certain groups, the national sector, were angry at the government. But then, when the crime begins, we begin to realize that it never happened there.
A presidential candidate was murdered a few years ago. That was very unprecedented. And I was there for that. Then, a few months later, in January 2024, we fled from prison, the gang leader, the main crime leader. The next day we saw the President retaliation against him for declaring a state of emergency… in my case it was very difficult to see the spiral in this country where I grew up – this beautiful place, very peaceful – in my case. And for this documentary, our goal was to capture this situation and follow the chain of what is happening in this country.
While reporting there, what was the biggest surprise you had?
Culver: Considering the Galapagos, it is clearly linked to Finch and evolution and (Charles) Darwin, but another kind of evolution is beginning to happen.
It has become symbolic in a very dark and very dark way what is happening to the people of Ecuador. And one of the things we did intentionally is to simplify and humanize the story. And we open a documentary with the couple in their home, and they have clearly not been exposed to the media, let alone the previous international media. And here they are in a very fragile moment, in a very frightening moment, but in a very hopeless moment, trying to explain the son’s loss of disappearance, and the documentary flows out of it.
AlvaradoEcuador always had this feeling, especially the military – “We have this, we trained soldiers.” That was always the case. But they were very honest about their needs…and it comes with this new reality that the country is experiencing.
One general (Clever Guaitarira, commander of Manavi’s Joint Task Force) was very open, like “We need all the help we can get.” They wanted to show us some of the equipment they use. And when we got there they’re like, “Oh, in fact, it’s not working.” There is a lack of work equipment, a lack of resources they have.
What was the biggest challenge you faced in creating this story?
Alvarado: I think it started even when we were planning. It’s a small country…but still, it’s not easy to get from point A to point B. And there is always this risk factor for us… and we can match our eras during the raids with the authorities during the raids, so that we can open these gang leaders, drug runners, to us.
We asked ourselves: “Why do they talk? Why do they put their safety at risk? They are not afraid of the police. They are afraid of other gang members snitching. Why do they do that?”
And the gang members were revealed to us. Because he wants to explain how the domestic situation leads all these young people into that world… David asked him, “Why did you enter this?” He says, “They gave me shoes.”
Have you ever faced security concerns while you were there?
Culver: I think it was probably the most uncertainty when we entered Choneros (gang) territory. And we are in the middle of a meeting to show how fast things move. This happens at least twice, and usually involves talking to the Navy and military and high-level officials.
At the border of two rival gangs: CNN meets top commanders deep in Ecuadorian gang territory
Alvarado: Even in quiet moments in certain areas, I was sometimes nervous. Cameras, foreigners can attract the attention of locals. And in those quiet moments, I was like I was keeping my eyes open. In Guayaquil and many parts of Latin America, it’s easy to get away, so you know that hit men are usually operated on motorcycles. So they’re just going in and they’re like zigzagging inside the car. So there was a moment when I was driving. I’ll see all these motorcycles in the rear view.
And that’s what I feel when I get back. Sadly, every time I arrive in the country, I have this tension in the air. And that’s because you feel you can’t trust anyone.
Culver: You don’t leave much space for idle time there. And it’s kind of intentional. The fact that I was learning this from Abel – some of his family even changed their routines so much that they were too unpredictable in their daily lives.
What have locals told you about the challenges they experience every day and how to overcome them?
Culver: Just like in the US, it depends on who you talk to in such a situation. This means that the parents of the young man who disappeared can know that they are in poverty and that they really have little resources. They are trying to raise four other children. Dad is a security guard and his mother is trying to keep the house. It’s incredibly understated. And I think there’s just a real struggle to provide to families in these types of situations.
But then you’ve seen that you’re middle class and in Esmeralda, there are people who want to go out to restaurants on Friday nights and enjoy music and warm weather. And they just seem to have accepted, OK, this is what you live in a war zone, but you’re still going to try and live within that war zone, right? You are still trying to find joy in moments of relaxation.
Alvarado: My childhood friend Joaquin spoke in this documentary. We wanted to include that too – what does it look like for the people who live here? Joaquin is someone who has the resources to live in the United States. He works for a US-based company. He makes good money. He may be here, but he chooses to be there for his family, parents, and siblings.
What would you like viewers to take from this documentary?
Culver: You begin to realize that the interconnectivity of this crisis is immeasurable. That’s why we see the US increasingly involved in what’s going on there. And I was based there until 2009, with the existence of the US military.
I think our intention is to put this on the map in a broader way. Because we’re certainly late and faster to hear that the US is becoming more and more involved. As an audience, you will start to understand why it is for this Narco SuperHighway, which contains drugs, but how could this end if Ecuador doesn’t get the help they are pleading with.
Alvarado: I put this little country on a map and make people understand what life is like there. Ecuador’s internal problems are also driven by drug consumption in the US, Europe and many other places.
If people learn about the situation there, I’d be happy (and) understand: Ah, amazing. It’s not just Ecuador. Other countries have something to do with this. But apart from that, I am also happy that people learn the possibilities. And there’s more to it after this violence and drug trafficking to recognize that Ecuador is the Amazon, the Andes, the Galapagos and the Pacific coast.
