FLASH
Shkruar nga Pamfleti
Donald Trump has launched a war on drug cartels and is demanding that countries on his list of problem nations join him or face punitive sanctions or worse.
The screams of women and children pierce the air as the battering ram smashes through the front door of their home.
There is shouting and all-out chaos as police officers, with automatic weapons and pistols pointed at them, enter.
Doors are kicked open, curtains are drawn, drawers in bedrooms are opened, and boxes and tables are overturned.
"There are children here!" the women scream, as they all fall to the floor.
An anti-drug operation has been launched in Guayaquil, Ecuador, and police say they have information that this is the home of a drug trafficker. Guayaquil is one of the cities where the Albanian drug trafficking mafia also operates, with many executions related to their activities in Ecuador.
I've taken dozens of photographs during my career covering drug gangs in Latin America, and it's always deeply disturbing to see children involved in it.
These are homes, and these are women and children, but their rights are violated by their circumstances, they are poor, they live in a difficult area, and it is very likely that one of their family members is part of a gang.
However, what has changed here is that raids have increased and will continue to increase.
Why? Because US President Donald Trump has launched a war on drug cartels and is demanding that countries on his list of problem nations join him, or face punitive sanctions or worse, writes SkyNews.
Ecuador does not produce drugs, but it is used as a transit point by drug cartels in the region. Its ports are gateways to sea routes north to the United States and west to Asia and the South Pacific.
That's why Ecuador is on Trump's list. But Ecuador wants help in fighting these criminal networks and has cooperated with the US.
Trump has sent resources and military force to Ecuador, and the US is planning to open a military base there.
In return, Ecuador's security forces are raising their level to assure America that they are on the same page.
We saw this effort in real time, led through multiple raids by a police officer with the badge of “Lynx.” He’s a former special forces officer, now affiliated with the drug squad, and he’s something of a phenomenon.
"The United States is giving us money, weapons, technology, and we are very happy about that," he told me.
"It's very important for the war."
It can be said that Lynx is in many ways the symbolic son of the Ecuadorian police, he is extremely self-confident, highly regarded by his superiors and adored by his team.
The multibillion-dollar drug business is a vast global network, and by eliminating the "little guys" as Lynx calls them, they hope to disrupt the chain at higher levels.
"We always catch the little guys and they talk... give me that guy, he's bigger, and then we go, we go, we go," is how Lynx describes the unchaining.
They hope that any information they can gather from the lower ranks will ultimately be valuable information that they can pass on to the US to capture more important figures.
Lynx gives information to his boss and then we get in our cars while the police try to track down the traffickers.
That same day, we head to a notoriously dangerous hilltop neighborhood with Lynx and the rest of the officers. They're looking for more drugs and dealers who will talk.
They arrest a man they say is a security guard - and, while searching through piles of trash for drugs, they find bags of cocaine.
Lynx thinks we're being watched, so he sends his drone up again, this time to see what's happening on the streets above us.
I asked Lynx if he thinks people who use drugs in London, New York or Los Angeles, or anywhere else, think about him and his officers on the streets every day.
"I think not, because in poor countries they are more powerful, smarter, if they really knew, I think they would think no, it's bad, because people are killing in poor countries for drugs, for the drugs they are consuming," he replied.
The amount of drugs, weapons, ammunition and money seized is quite impressive.
Bags of marijuana, kilos of cocaine cut for sale, along with a kilo of pure cocaine paste. There is also money, weapons and ammunition.
It is a kind of Latin American tradition to display the results of these raids. / Adapt Pamphlet /
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