Durán, Ecuador’s new crime capital

Durán, a municipality of over 300,000 people in Ecuador’s coastal Guayas province, has undergone a dramatic transformation from a thriving commercial center to a violent hub of criminal activity. This shift reflects broader challenges facing Ecuador and offers critical insights into the complex interplay of social, economic, and criminal factors that shape security in the country.

Once known as a commercial hub and small industrial center on the outskirts of the port city of Guayaquil, Durán is now better known for its rampant organized crime violence. Today, the municipality struggles with systemic corruption, extreme poverty, and widespread crime. Durán has become a major staging area for cocaine trafficking and a hotbed for local drug trafficking. In 2023, the murder rate reached a staggering 147 per 100,000.

The roots of Durán’s crisis lie in uncontrolled growth and government neglect. Rapid, unplanned urbanization has outpaced the development of critical infrastructure. The lack of adequate education, including a public university, has limited opportunities for young people. These conditions have created a vacuum that criminal organizations are eager to fill.

*This article is part of an investigation into the criminal dynamics in Durán, the main hub of organized crime in Ecuador and one of the most violent cities in the world in 2023. Read the other chapters of the investigation here or download the full report (PDF) here.

Meanwhile, Ecuador’s growing role in the transnational drug trade has fundamentally changed the criminal dynamics in Durán, which serves as a strategic corridor for cocaine shipments that pass through the ports of Guayaquil to Europe and the United States. The excessive profits from this trade have trickled down to local criminal actors in Durán, who act as service providers for larger national networks. Two central criminal players, the Chone Killers and the Latin Kings, dominate Durán’s underworld. Their violent rivalry for control of territory and criminal economies has transformed the landscape of the municipality.

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The groups’ connections to transnational networks appear more opportunistic than systemic, but their infiltration of local governments is particularly alarming. At least one group has secured public works contracts and control of key institutions, blurring the line between criminality and governance.

These groups have also embedded themselves in Durán’s communities, gaining control over entire neighborhoods, primarily through land trafficking. This practice is the backbone of Durán’s criminal ecosystem, providing not only profits from illegal property sales but also a stage for other illegal activities, such as drug trafficking, robberies, and extortion. The process of legalizing these settlements provides opportunities for money laundering and often leads to violence, including against government officials.

The influx of cocaine profits has only increased state penetration, allowing local groups to develop into sophisticated criminal enterprises, set up legitimate businesses and secure key positions in municipal government.

Once a busy railway station and industrial hub, Durán is now an example of Ecuador’s rapid descent into criminal ruin.