Cocaine trafficking keeps Ecuador anti-drug authorities busy

Reporting from Guayaquil, Ecuador - The beat cop quickly discovered why the three men at the entrance to the storage yard had bolted as he pulled up in his patrol car.

[latino_gringo]

Was a GREAT idea on Raffy's part to NOT renew the Manta Base lease. huh?

Almost every week in theGuayaquil newspaper are pictures an stories of drug busts!

[Jirehs]

Is it possible Prez Raffy is making some dinero on the coca trade to make up for what he lost when he kicked out those terrible gringos?

[Jirehs]

My girlfriend in Manta tells me that it is becoming more difficult to buy products of any quality. Simple things like clothes and shoes. I did read that Prez Raffy has greatly reduced the importation of goods, especially from America. Of course, do you think he doesn't have the best? Es verdad.

[ecuachet]

I imagine Raf´s got the best of what he wants. When you read what the Ecuadorian cop in charge of drug interdiction has to say - ¨they (Manta) were our eyes and ears¨, then you begin to see a kind of disconnect within the government. Drug busts are up, but shipments are increasing; someone´s makin´ money.

[Jirehs]

Ecuachet, man things are really weird down there and getting worse. Electric outages, water shortages, lack of decent products in the tiendas, drogas en cada calle, crime climbing....this is a great recipe for real trouble. I can't imagine how my friends in Manta are making a living now. But I mean to find out muy pronto porque regresar a manta esta primavera o invierno, y quiero muy pronto instead of later. Su amigo, Jirehs
ps, did you ever happen to work at the FOL?

[Rachel]

I hate to hear that Ecuador is facing problems with the narco on the top of everything else. It makes me feel sad por the good people of that country. They have enough with the crime, unemploymet, flooding in some areas of the coast and the worst of all a president who doesn't care for his people.
In his obsesion to convert Ecuador in a socialist country and his hate for USA. he is hurting his own people.
He needs to bring back the American military to help the country to control the narco and he should think of giving his people a better quality of life.

[latino_gringo]

A lot of American products are not available here anymore. And even if they are, Raffy has imposed a luxury tax on them. Unfortunately most of these products are everyday products here. And Ecuador doesn't make them! So your SOL if you want them now.

So much for his helping the poor in his country. Also electric bills have gone up now, but nothing with conserving energy. Oh we did get 1 million light bulbs from Hugo however. New construction as not slowed, and there is no concept of how to build green, or how to insulate a home from the daily heat...which adds more pressure to the electrical grid. Urbanization projects here are building 100s of homes without any regards energy conservation
or insulation. House here get HOT!

[latino_gringo]

Oh, and like the US, most everything is made in CHINA!

[Rachel]

Yes, everywhere I go I see products made in China and its quality varies according to the country. In Ecuador products made in China seems lower quality than USA. Poor people from Ecuador cannot affore imported products of better quality. That miserable of Correa with his socialist mentality wants his people to have nothing.

Cosmetics and some over the county medicines like advil or tylenol are made in USA. In Ecuador the prices of those products are so ridiculous high, people cannot affore.

Corres doesn't want the people to consume any products that come from USA. Made in China or not.

[Vangelist]

Economic forums (even the The McLaughlin Group) have PRAISED the wise trade measures the Correa Government has taken. Best thing a small DOLARIZED economy can do.
In a nut shell... LESS cheap made in China stuff... MORE quality made in Ecuador products. THUS... MORE jobs for the small and medium manufacturers in Ecuador and one of the most stable economies in Latin America