Latest news with #InsightCrime
Yahoo
25-05-2025
- Yahoo
Drug-Smuggling Cat Apprehended in Costa Rica
A black and white cat has been picked up by guards at a prison in Costa Rica and found to be carrying some hefty contraband. The cat, which was spotted as it attempted to hop the perimeter fence at night, was discovered to have 67 grams (2.4 ounces) of crack cocaine, 230 grams (8 ounces) of cannabis, and rolling papers strapped to its back. Officers at Pococi Penitentiary rescued the animal on Tuesday after removing the packages that had been taped to it, and confiscating the drugs. 'Thanks to the swift actions of the responding officers, the cat was caught and the packages removed—preventing the drugs from reaching their intended destination," the Costa Rican Ministry of Justice shared in a statement. In a video shared by the Ministry, guards can be seen catching the animal as it traverses a fence topped with razor wire. Later, they are shown to be carefully cutting the drugs from the cat's body while stroking the kitty to keep it calm. Cats and other animals are frequently used by drug traffickers to carry illicit substances. The website Insight Crime reports that cats have been used to get drugs into prisons in Panama and Russia, with inmates attracting the animals using treats. Carrier pigeons have also been used by gangs in Argentina and Costa Rica to smuggle drugs and other contraband into prisons. Sadly, drug gangs are increasingly using livestock to traffic their wares, often with horrific outcomes. The cattle are forced to swallow drugs before being taken across borders with the contraband hidden in their stomachs. In 2021, a ship carrying 4,000 livestock from Colombia was stopped in Spain with many of the drug-packed animals discovered to be dead or dying. A second ship, carrying 5,000 cattle, was discovered in similar circumstances in the Canary Islands at around the same time. Thankfully, this latest story appears to have a happy ending as the BBC reports that the Costa Rican prison-breaker was handed over to the National Animal Health Service after its dalliance with dealing.
Int'l Business Times
24-05-2025
- Politics
- Int'l Business Times
At 2nd Inauguration, Noboa Vows To 'Save' Ecuador From Gangs
Daniel Noboa was sworn in Saturday for a second term as Ecuadoran president, promising to "save" his South American country from narco-traffickers allied with foreign criminal gangs. The 37-year-old leader, speaking after his installation ceremony at the National Assembly in capital Quito, promised a "direct confrontation with organized criminal structures." "There will be no truce against crime," he vowed. Noboa, who has served as president since late 2023, handily defeated leftist rival Luisa Gonzalez in elections in April, handing him a full four-year term. The opposition, led by exiled former president Rafael Correa, has denounced what it says was election fraud and boycotted Saturday's inauguration ceremony. Those allegations have been dismissed by international election observers. Noboa, a wealthy businessman, first became president of the country of 18 million following early elections in 2023 that came amid a wave of drug-linked violence. Criminal groups specializing in cocaine smuggling pose a challenge to the government, as drug-related violence has given Ecuador the highest homicide rate in South America, according to the Insight Crime think tank. During Noboa's first year in office the homicide rate fell, which he attributed to his crackdown on crime. Among other things, he declared Ecuador to be in an internal armed conflict, empowering him to deploy the armed forces in the streets and prisons. Noboa touted the drug fight as a center point of his campaign. His youth and Correa's unpopularity among many voters helped power him to re-election, analysts say. But the fight against crime is far from over. Between January and April, Ecuador counted 3,084 homicides, making it the bloodiest start to any year since records were kept. Noboa promised on Saturday not "to look the other way," saying he would carry on the fight against criminals "who believed they own the country." Seeking to strengthen an alliance with the United States in the fight against crime, Noboa said he would allow foreign forces into the country. He also said recently that Israel wanted to "help" Ecuador with intelligence for the anti-crime struggle. Among foreign dignitaries attending Noboa's inauguration was US health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. representing President Donald Trump. Colombia President Gustavo Petro and his Peruvian counterpart Dina Boluarte were also there, as were the foreign ministers of Brazil, Bolivia and Costa Rica.
Yahoo
12-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Ecuador imposes state of emergency before razor-close election
On the eve of a too-close-to-call presidential election, Ecuador declared a state of emergency Saturday in seven of its 24 provinces, including the capital Quito, saying it was needed to fight a dramatic rise in drug-linked violence. The measure, set to last 60 days, took effect just before Sunday's election pitting incumbent Daniel Noboa against his leftist opponent Luisa Gonzalez, and after the country began the year with its bloodiest start ever, averaging a killing every hour. The state of emergency applies to the coastal provinces of Guayas, Los Rios, Manabi, Santa Elena and El Oro, the Amazonian provinces of Orellana and Sucumbios, as well as to Quito and the troubled mining town of Camilo Ponce Enriquez. It also applies to the nation's prisons. Noboa imposed the measure amid an "increase in violence, serious crime, and the intense unlawful activities of organized armed groups," according to a decree he signed. The order suspends the legal protection against unauthorized search and entry of homes and mail, as well as the freedom of assembly, and imposes a nightly curfew in the cities of Guayas, Los Rios, Orellana and Sucumbios, as well as Ponce Enriquez. Noboa, in power since November 2023, has previously decreed states of emergency to combat the rise of drug gangs, who have waged bloody turf fights over control of the illicit trade, spreading terror among ordinary Ecuadorans. As he pursued his "iron fist" policies, the country's homicide rate fell from a record 47 per 100,000 inhabitants in 2023 to 38 in 2024, yet remained the highest in Latin America last year, according to the group Insight Crime. Noboa last year declared Ecuador to be in an internal armed conflict, allowing him to keep troops in the streets to combat some 20 drug gangs linked to international cartels the president brands as "terrorists." It was not immediately clear how the election-eve emergency measures would affect the voting process Sunday, or voters' decisions. But crime has been a key issue between Noboa, 37, and his 47-year-old rival Gonzalez, as close to 14 million Ecuadorans prepare to decide who will run their nation for the next four years. A Noboa victory would likely spell more "iron fist" policies, which have had mixed success. He wants to see U.S. troops deploy to Ecuador to tackle the cartels wrestling to control the flow of cocaine through Ecuadoran ports to Asia, the United States and Europe. A win by Gonzalez, who hopes to be Ecuador's first female president, would signal a sharp shift to the left and a likely cooling of Ecuador's relations with the United States and its president, Donald Trump. An American intelligence assessment of the Ecuadorian presidential election concluded that a reelection of the incumbent president would better serve U.S. national security interests over the challenger. Ecuador ranks among the 10 largest economies in Latin America and the bilateral trade between Ecuador and the United States surged to $15.2 billion in 2023. Ecuador avoided Mr. Trump's imposed tariffs rolled out by the White House last week. Saturday Sessions: Dawes performs "Still Strangers Sometimes" Saturday Sessions: Dawes performs "Time Spent in Los Angeles" Saturday Sessions: Dawes performs "Front Row Seat"
CBS News
12-04-2025
- Politics
- CBS News
Ecuador imposes state of emergency before razor-close election
On the eve of a too-close-to-call presidential election, Ecuador declared a state of emergency Saturday in seven of its 24 provinces, including the capital Quito, saying it was needed to fight a dramatic rise in drug-linked violence. The measure, set to last 60 days, took effect just before Sunday's election pitting incumbent Daniel Noboa against his leftist opponent Luisa Gonzalez, and after the country began the year with its bloodiest start ever, averaging a killing every hour. The state of emergency applies to the coastal provinces of Guayas, Los Rios, Manabi, Santa Elena and El Oro, the Amazonian provinces of Orellana and Sucumbios, as well as to Quito and the troubled mining town of Camilo Ponce Enriquez. It also applies to the nation's prisons. Noboa imposed the measure amid an "increase in violence, serious crime , and the intense unlawful activities of organized armed groups," according to a decree he signed. The order suspends the legal protection against unauthorized search and entry of homes and mail, as well as the freedom of assembly, and imposes a nightly curfew in the cities of Guayas, Los Rios, Orellana and Sucumbios, as well as Ponce Enriquez. Noboa, in power since November 2023, has previously decreed states of emergency to combat the rise of drug gangs , who have waged bloody turf fights over control of the illicit trade, spreading terror among ordinary Ecuadorans. As he pursued his "iron fist" policies, the country's homicide rate fell from a record 47 per 100,000 inhabitants in 2023 to 38 in 2024, yet remained the highest in Latin America last year, according to the group Insight Crime. Noboa last year declared Ecuador to be in an internal armed conflict, allowing him to keep troops in the streets to combat some 20 drug gangs linked to international cartels the president brands as "terrorists." It was not immediately clear how the election-eve emergency measures would affect the voting process Sunday, or voters' decisions. But crime has been a key issue between Noboa, 37, and his 47-year-old rival Gonzalez, as close to 14 million Ecuadorans prepare to decide who will run their nation for the next four years. A Noboa victory would likely spell more "iron fist" policies, which have had mixed success. He wants to see U.S. troops deploy to Ecuador to tackle the cartels wrestling to control the flow of cocaine through Ecuadoran ports to Asia, the United States and Europe. A win by Gonzalez, who hopes to be Ecuador's first female president, would signal a sharp shift to the left and a likely cooling of Ecuador's relations with the United States and its president, Donald Trump. An American intelligence assessment of the Ecuadorian presidential election concluded that a reelection of the incumbent president would better serve U.S. national security interests over the challenger. Ecuador ranks among the 10 largest economies in Latin America and the bilateral trade between Ecuador and the United States surged to $15.2 billion in 2023. Ecuador avoided Mr. Trump's imposed tariffs rolled out by the White House last week. James LaPorta contributed to this report.
Yahoo
10-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Ecuador's Second Presidential Election of 2025
Next month, Ecuadorian voters will choose between incumbent conservative President Daniel Noboa and progressive challenger Luisa González to be their next president. This will be the second presidential election of 2025, following the February general election in which no candidate secured the 50 percent needed to win outright(Noboa and González both earned about 44 percent of the vote). Noboa, Ecuador's youngest president and heir to a banana empire, took office in 2023 to complete the term of former President Guillermo Lasso, who dissolved the National Assembly that year—for the first time in Ecuador's history—to avoid an impeachment vote for his alleged role in a corruption scandal involving oil and gas contracts. Noboa inherited a tumultuous situation—from 2018 to 2022, Ecuador's murder rate quadrupled. Just two months into office, he declared a 60-day state of emergency in seven of the country's 24 provinces. The order designated 22 criminal gangs as terrorist groups, allowed the military to patrol streets, and authorized security forces to "enter homes and intercept correspondence in the targeted provinces without prior authorization," reported Reuters. In January, Noboa issued a second 60-day crime emergency. These policies initially led to a drop in the homicide rate, which fell by 17 percent through August 2024. However, the decline was short-lived—January was the most violent in Ecuador's history, with 731 homicides reported, according to InsightCrime, a nonprofit that tracks crime in Latin America. Under Noboa, Ecuador's economy fell into recession, largely due to an energy crisis caused by droughts that reduced the country's supply of hydropower—its main source of electricity. As a result, blackouts lasted up to 14 hours a day, costing an estimated $12 million in lost productivity and sales for every hour without power. In the fourth quarter of 2024, gross domestic product fell by 1.5 percent year-on-year, while the poverty rate increased by 2 percent. If reelected, Noboa plans to double down on tough-on-crime policies, including the construction of a $52 million, 800-person maximum-security prison to house the country's most dangerous drug lords, which he authorized in June 2024. His economic agenda focuses on resolving the energy crisis—though details remain vague—and reducing poverty by expanding social programs and wealth transfers, such as the "Bono de Desarrollo Humano," which provides stipends of $55 to $150 to impoverished families. Luisa González, who ran against Noboa in the 2023 election, was handpicked by former President Rafael Correa (2007-2017). Correa was sentenced to prison in absentia in 2020 on corruption charges, according to the Associated Press. Despite her close ties with Correa, González has stated that she would not intervene in his legal matters and has denied any intention to pardon him if elected. González plans to address Ecuador's crime wave similarly to Noboa—through a strong military and police presence—by fully deploying security forces to the borders to regain control and targeting drug lords. González has also campaigned on reinstating the Ministry of Justice, Human Rights, and Worship to improve rehabilitation programs. The ministry, created during the Correa administration, was responsible for coordinating the justice system, overseeing human rights within prisons, and improving rehabilitation efforts for inmates. However, it was dismantled in 2018 as part of a government initiative to reduce spending and downsize the government. After its dissolution, prison responsibilities were transferred to the National Comprehensive Service to Prisoners and Juvenile Offenders. Since then, there have been several human rights accusations of the treatment of prisoners. Her economic plans include transitioning Ecuador to a post-oil economy—despite oil meeting 82 percent of the country's energy needs—and increasing social spending, signaling a return to Correa-era policies. Specifically, she plans to expand social spending in violent areas, reduce the sales tax from 15 percent to 12 percent, and provide tax credits for women-owned businesses. Despite their differing economic strategies, both candidates advocate expanding state power in the name of public safety. Regardless of the outcome, voters may suffer if these policies are implemented. The post Ecuador's Second Presidential Election of 2025 appeared first on
