Mapping Power Players in Durán, Ecuador

A multitude of actors play a role in security in Durán, including political, bureaucratic, and economic elites, civil society, and security forces. Corruption in the municipal government, including in the mayor’s office and a number of other key posts, has allowed organized crime groups to flourish. This has greatly hurt economic actors and civil society, who struggle to thrive as Durán’s social and economic fabric deteriorates.

Political Elites

Durán’s power has historically been concentrated in the hands of the political elite, which mainly consists of a select number of well-connected, entrenched families from the area. They leverage the poorly-organized municipal services and disorganization to their advantage. Specifically, past mayors and the municipal councils, charged with managing public services, have parceled out infrastructure contracts, manipulated zoning laws, and operationalized land-use registries in their favor or to the advantage of their allies, some of whom are criminal actors.

One of the most influential of Durán’s elites is the Narváez-Mendieta family. Mariana Mendieta and her son, Dalton Narváez, of the Social Christian Party (Partido Social Cristiano – PSC) have dominated politics in Durán since 2000. Mendieta held the mayor’s office from 2000 to 2008, and Narváez from 2008 to 2014, and again from 2019 to 2023. They have faced numerous allegations of corruption and criminality. And, in April 2024, prosecutors ordered Narváez’s arrest for embezzlement relating to contracts he signed while he was mayor to improve the water flow from the nearby town of Milagro to Durán. In an interview with InSight Crime, Narváez denied the charges, blaming his predecessors for signing the contracts and leaving the projects unfinished.

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

Narváez’s problems extend beyond corruption allegations. He was allegedly closely linked to criminal actors during his two terms, current and former government officials familiar with the Narváez administration and an active Latin Kings member told InSight Crime. Narváez, however, denied working with criminal actors in the interview with InSight Crime. We explored Narváez’s alleged links to criminal actors in a separate case study.

The Narváez-Mendieta mayoral reign was interrupted between 2014 and 2019 by Alexandra Arce, of the PAIS Alliance (Alianza PAIS), the party of former President Rafael Correa. She embraced the Correa administration’s “pacification” of street gangs by including Latin Kings members in key posts of her administration, she told InSight Crime. They were also the beneficiaries of government training and education programs. 

However, Arce has also faced accusations of corruption and criminal ties. Prosecutors are investigating Arce alongside Narváez for her involvement in embezzlement related to contracts for Durán’s water system. She has also been connected to Ecuador’s sweeping anti-corruption case, Metastasis. An associate of drug trafficker Leandro Norero allegedly sent him a message saying he was “supporting” Arce. Norero was a member of Ecuador’s other major street gang, the Ñetas, before emerging as a significant criminal operator in his own right. In an interview with InSight Crime, Arce denied any involvement in corruption or links to drug traffickers, and InSight Crime has not independently corroborated the accusations.

Current Mayor Luis Chonillo created his own political party for the election, but he has struggled to deal with the rising crime. Since surviving an assassination attempt in May 2023, shortly after taking office, Chonillo has governed Durán from afar, becoming something of a martyr for the international press but more of an interloper for Durán residents who, in interviews with InSight Crime, criticized him for the lack of progress in fixing Durán’s public services or dealing with criminality. 

Bureaucratic Elites

Durán’s municipal government, and its semi-independent public companies, are important institutions that the political elite, and increasingly, criminal actors, have populated with relatives and allies. These bureaucratic elites – many of whom cross from administration to administration because of their control of the Municipal Workers’ Union – are key operators for numerous criminal schemes.

The institutions range from traditional corruption hubs to atypical criminal headquarters. The Public Works Department (Dirección General de Obras Públicas), for example, issues lucrative, long-lasting government contracts, making it a perennial corruption hub. Land traffickers, meanwhile, try to get posts in the land planning department (Dirección General de Planeamiento, Ordenamiento y Terrenos) and the property registry (Empresa Pública Registro de la Propiedad), which help criminal actors regulate development, zoning, and land titles.

Durán’s persistent problem with drinking water also creates criminal opportunities in the Potable Water and Sewage Authority (Empresa Municipal de Agua Potable y Alcantarillado de Durán – EMAPAD). And its position as a strategic storage and staging area for drugs makes it important for criminal actors to infiltrate the Security Council (Consejo de Seguridad), which manages sensitive information about security operations.

Criminal groups in Durán have also infiltrated institutions that are not typically targeted in other countries across the region. Among these is Durán’s Municipal Firefighters (Cuerpo de Bomberos Municipal del Cantón Durán), a force that controls a number of permits and inspections, creating ample opportunity for blackmail. It also has a fleet of vehicles, offering camouflage for criminal activity that current and former government officials told InSight Crime includes moving large amounts of cocaine. The firehouse has been under scrutiny for some time. In March 2024, two firefighters were implicated in the attempted murder of two police officers in Durán, while in August, security forces detained five firefighters who were allegedly allied with gangs.

Another less common institution is Durán’s Transportation Authority (Autoridad de Tránsito de Durán – ATD). The ATD serves both as an intelligence gatherer and revenue stream. It can survey the movement of security forces, for instance. It also has an official fleet of vehicles and access to revenue stemming from traffic fines.

To ensure continuity in their government posts, corrupt and criminal actors have sought control of the Municipal Workers’ Union (Sindicato de Trabajadores Municipales). The union is responsible for protecting the rights of mid-level and high-level municipal officials. But, according to City Hall officials, it uses the threat of fines, costly severance packages, and legal action to make it almost impossible for the municipal government to fire employees. Mayor Chonillo told InSight Crime that he inherited a municipality in which more than 200 employees had apparently unionized at the last minute.

Economic Elites

Durán is a highly industrial municipality, with factories dedicated to the production of animal food, plastics, metals, seafood, and more. It trails only Quito and Guayaquil as the third-largest industrial center in the country. Its manufacturing sector alone added $1.9 billion to Ecuador’s economy in 2022, according to a report from Ecuador’s central bank.

Despite its economic importance, most of Durán’s business owners do not live in Durán, and many entrust their businesses to middle-managers to avoid traveling to the municipality at all. What’s more, Durán’s businesses often have administrative headquarters in other cities. One reason for this may be the strained relationship between Durán’s government and the business community. Leaders of the business community say that government officials effectively blackmail businesses by hiking up taxes and requiring exorbitant fees to operate in the municipality. In interviews with InSight Crime, several former government officials admitted to this dynamic.

In the last few years, Durán’s gangs have also increasingly preyed on the municipality’s business elite, targeting them for extortion and kidnapping. The insecurity is further driving businesses out of Durán, former mayor Alexandra Arce and business community leaders told InSight Crime.

SEE ALSO: Why Have Ecuador’s Drug Trafficking Gangs Turned to Extortion?

Durán has a chamber of industries (Cámara de Industrias de Durán), with the group working to create a “favorable environment and the necessary infrastructure for the strengthening and development of existing industries (in Durán).” However, much of the group’s resources go towards protecting members from corrupt officials and increasing extortion and kidnapping threats posed by criminal groups, members of the Durán business community told InSight Crime.

In some cases, Durán’s criminals have leveraged resources from illicit economies to pursue legitimate business opportunities. Washington Sellán Hati, alias “Washo,” owned multiple businesses in the municipality and presented himself as a businessman, all while trafficking cocaine through Durán destined for international markets. He was killed in 2023.

Civil Society

Durán’s civil society consists of charitable and cultural organizations, as well as dozens of primarily Catholic and evangelical churches. The latter play little role in social welfare and educational programs, but many of Durán’s community organizations focus on youth, obtaining public services like water and transportation; providing child care, after-school activities, and supplemental education. 

One organization we met is dedicated to running soccer camps for children, and another is devoted to providing skill-based job certification courses to youth. These programs are largely funded via private donations. One community leader told InSight Crime they did not seek municipal government funding to avoid becoming beholden to political interests.

One large organization overseeing social programs in Durán is the municipality’s private university, the Bolivarian University of Ecuador (Universidad Bolivariana de Ecuador – UBE). UBE has organized community projects including a free legal clinic, vaccination programs, and summer programs for children. But because these programs are in early development stages, few residents know about them, and it is not yet clear whether they are sustainable.

In Durán’s poorer neighborhoods, community leaders and organizations appear to have varying levels of influence and organization. In some neighborhoods, like Cerro Las Cabras (Goat Hill), community leaders serve as intermediaries between civilians and gangs, bringing grievances to gang leaders through dialogue. In others, gangs appear less open to interacting with community members. Some of Durán’s most complicated neighborhoods, like 288 Hectáreas, lack any sort of community organization, one resident told InSight Crime.  

Various Durán community leaders told InSight Crime that criminal groups did not intervene in programs such as youth extracurricular activities and vaccination campaigns. Still, Durán’s community leaders are in a vulnerable position, often towing a fine line between mediation with gangs and stepping on criminal groups’ toes.

Security Forces and Judicial Services

Security forces and judicial bodies are present in Durán, but there are signs that many of these forces have cowed or are beholden to criminal actors.

The municipality is under Zone 8 jurisdiction of the National Police (Policía Nacional), which covers the Guayaquil metropolitan area (Guayaquil, Samborondón, and Durán). Durán has a district police chief in charge of operations in the municipality, who responds to central command. There are about 400 police officers stationed in the municipality, according to an unpublished joint 2024 security plan developed by the UNODC and the municipal government of Durán seen by InSight Crime and an estimate from a Durán police official.

However, a police official working outside Durán, and community and business leaders told InSight Crime that Durán police were untrustworthy, citing cases of corruption and worrying signs of criminal penetration of the local units. Multiple police officials who have worked in Durán admitted that the infiltration of criminal groups is a major problem within the force. In one example from February 2024, two police were arrested with over a ton of cocaine in an operation carried out in Durán and neighboring Yaguachi.

Not all police have a bad reputation. The Anti-Kidnapping and Extortion Unit (La Unidad Antisecuestro y Extorsión – UNASE) has been lauded for its work. In an interview with InSight Crime, one Guayaquil business leader with a business in Durán praised UNASE for resolving some kidnapping cases, adding that the business community in the Guayaquil metropolitan area is “quite confident” in its abilities. Another Durán business leader, however, did not have the same praise for UNASE, citing how victims of kidnapping and extortion are hesitant to denounce crimes to the unit because of the infiltration of criminal groups in its ranks.

Durán also has a small municipal police force (Cuerpo de Agentes de Control Municipal). It is in charge of guarding the municipal government’s headquarters, protecting the municipality’s property, and preventing unlawful behavior, according to the 2024 joint UNODC-municipal security plan. But no one mentioned the force, and it appears to play a very small role in the municipality.

Private security companies are also becoming increasingly important in Durán. One head of a security company told InSight Crime that businesses are spending significantly more on private security than they have in the past, and that he was personally aware of at least six large companies now operating in Durán. A Durán business leader put the number even higher, estimating there are 15 private security companies working in the municipality. 

However, small businesses and the average Durán resident struggle to access these services. Members of a land cooperative in Durán’s rural sector told InSight Crime that they couldn’t afford a private security company to protect themselves from land invaders. Another small business owner said they were forced to close after being unable to protect themselves from ongoing extortion threats.

Criminal infiltration of private security companies is also a problem in Durán. A former municipal official, a police official who spent years working in Durán, and a member of Chonillo’s mayoral campaign told InSight Crime about multiple cases of people associated with criminal groups owning private security companies. Owning legal private security companies gives criminal groups access to legal weapons and ammunition, uniforms, and a way to launder illicit funds, a government official with firsthand knowledge of Durán’s criminal landscape told InSight Crime.

The Attorney General’s Office (Fiscalía General del Estado – FGE) has an office in Durán. There are seven prosecutors based in the municipality, according to the FGE’s August 2024 directory. However, criminal groups constantly threaten prosecutors and have attacked them directly. Citizens also often do not report crimes to the Attorney General’s Office for fear of retribution by criminal groups, further hindering prosecutors’ investigations, said current and former government officials and members of Durán’s business community. 

Ecuadorian armed forces have repeatedly intervened in Durán, as part of various states of exception since 2021. In interviews with InSight Crime, residents said the military’s presence was symbolic at best, and one remarked how few followed the government’s nightly curfews. What’s more, current and former government officials with knowledge of security operations said criminal groups have surveillance networks to see when military convoys are entering Durán, allowing them to avoid their operations.

SEE ALSO: Ecuadorians Back President’s Security Agenda But Challenges Await

A new wave of military operations starting in January 2024 had a minor impact on criminality and violence in Durán. After the national government declared a “war on gangs,” monthly homicides dropped slightly in Durán but remained well above pre-2023 levels. Since then, this temporary lull has given way to another spike in homicides.

Criminal Actors

Since the early 2000s, small-time street gangs have dominated Durán’s criminal landscape. Today, they remain small, relative to the country’s more sophisticated criminal structures. But in recent years, they have become more violent and predatory. They have also expanded their presence within Durán’s municipal government and public companies.

In a separate chapter we profile Durán’s three main criminal organizations: the Latin Kings, the Chone Killers, and the group based in Cerro Las Cabras led by Carlos Humberto Silva Vinueza, alias “El Llorón.”