Andrea Cano, a Nicaraguan Living the Violence in Ecuador
A young Nicaraguan woman, living in Quito, Ecuador’s capital, was surprised by the uptick of violence that broke out in that country this past week. In this interview, she tells us how she’s getting through the tense days.
HAVANA TIMES – Since the moment she arrived in Ecuador in November 2023, Andrea Cano, a young Nicaraguan woman, was warned not to go out on the street. “Don’t go out, be careful,” the locals insisted. This made her a little fearful, she says, but nothing troubled her as much as what happened over the last week in that country.
Armed bands of hooded men assaulting a television station; bombs exploding in the streets; drug traffickers escaping from maximum security prisons; videos posted of police and prison staff being killed; fires set in discotheques and commercial establishments. All that and more has been happening in Ecuador in recent days.
Andrea Cano, 24, with a degree in International Relations, is currently in Ecuador studying for a Master’s at the Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales [Latin American School of Social Sciences]. Her plans are to stay there for the two years the program lasts, hoping that the atmosphere of insecurity changes, although she’s aware it won’t be easy.
Ecuador recently experienced a great uptick in violence. What was your experience with it?
On Monday, [January 8], we learned there was going to be a curfew, but everything was okay. On [Tuesday] morning, when I went out, everything was fine. However, I went to get my Metro card, I saw that the soldiers were still guarding the area, because the Metro is a space that could be used by these groups as a focus of attacks. By around three or four in the afternoon, when a number of things had already taken place in Guayaquil, people were very anxious.
Everything closed at four, even the supermarkets, for fear of looting because there are always people who take advantage of the situation. Everything was shut tight, the streets closed, everyone just wanting to get home. The subway shut down. Around four in the afternoon, everything became chaotic. The soldiers were going around at night, the patrol vehicles in the streets, and also helicopters flying over the city.
How close are you to the metro station?
Four blocks
Are you afraid they’ll put a bomb there?
Right now, the soldiers are guarding the area. There’s protection, but you can’t discount the possibility.
What do the military on the streets do?
They check people, especially in the hot zones. They check you if they think you’re suspicious. The police as well as the army ask for your documents. They’re concentrated in the vulnerable zones, like the subway, near the jails, and government buildings.
How did you spend that Tuesday night?
At home. I rent a place where other people live, so I wasn’t completely alone. It was really hard for me to sleep. I got a lot of messages from worried people, wanting to know how I was. I also couldn’t sleep because of the news. It was no wonder we were upset. It was very tense. The next day, I woke up and grabbed my phone to check the news and how everything was doing. I saw that some suspects had been detained. Now there’s a tense calm. Nothing has happened, but yes, you have to stay alert.
What was the situation in Ecuador when you arrived three months ago?
There was a very large feeling of insecurity. When I got here, I felt quite scared, because people told me “don’t go out,” and they were all going around like they were very nervous. But the atmosphere at that time was relatively calm, although some weeks before I came, they [the drug gangs] killed a presidential candidate – no small thing. Here, though, in the center of Quito, nothing that dramatic had happened.
Currently, people are alarmed, and with good reason. However, this isn’t a recent context – it’s not like everything just happened right now in January. Things have been that way here for several years, during which Ecuador went from being a country used to move [illicit] drugs, to becoming a producer country. Drug trafficking gangs see impoverished and marginalized areas like Esmeralda and Guayaquil as fertile ground. Last year, they’d already done the same things, setting off car bombs and seeding terror in the civilian population.
Did you watch the takeover of the Guayaquil television station?
Yes, I saw it. It was really heavy. It scared me, but I also tried to stay calm, because fear paralyzes you, and you have to remain clearheaded to make good decisions and take care of yourself in all senses. What they told me is that the narcos, when they attack, hit several cities simultaneously to seed terror. Suddenly there’ll be news of an attack in Guayaquil, and another in Esmeralda, or in the south of Quito; and that such and such a prisoner escaped, and so on.
There were also videos going around of these groups executing police officers.
That’s happened before. The bomb attacks, the police assassinations, the things happening in the jails – they’ve experienced all this before, and people are placing their bets on not normalizing it. I’d second that idea heartily, that it shouldn’t be the new norm, and that people shouldn’t just get used to it. I know people from Colombia and they say: “We’re worse off, it’s our daily bread and butter.”
What have you been able to hear from the Ecuadorans about this wave of violence?
People are demanding a firm hand. Coming from Central America, I know that such firm hands are dangerous, but here the context is different, and you have to pay attention to the context. With this situation of insecurity and violence, it makes some sense that the population would demand a hard line against drug trafficking.
There are also some divided opinions. There are people who completely support the decision to deploy the Army, while others, obviously for political reasons, call [Ecuadoran president] Daniel Noboa ineffective.
How do you feel witnessing all this insecurity?
It worries me a lot, especially for the fact that I’m all alone here. I’m relatively safe – and I say relatively, because the fact is that nothing is safe here now. Still, the fact of being all by myself concerns me. If something happens to me – Who can I call? The other people I know are all Central Americans, but there are few of us. The others that are here are young kids like myself, studying under the same conditions. Our scope of action for taking care of ourselves is very limited.
Do you have a way of accessing the hospital or receiving medical attention if something happens to you?
The health system is public here, but it’s complicated. It’s not like in Nicaragua, where for better or worse, they’ll attend to you. Supposedly, we have medical insurance as students, the thing is that this insurance works via payments and refunds, so you have to have money. If something happens to you, you need money to resolve the problem. Later, the insurance pays you back, and even so they don’t pay it all back. To start with, you have to have money here. If not, you’re screwed.
What does your family in Nicaragua say?
Even before all this happened, my father and grandfather always told me it was dangerous here, that things were terrible, because at that time the assassination of the presidential candidate had recently taken place. Obviously, they’re worried about the situation now, but I just keep reporting to them, and I’m also taking security precautions and not taking risks.
How do you think the climate of violence will evolve in the upcoming days?
From an idealistic point of view, I wish it would just end already, but rationally I know that the war against drug trafficking isn’t an easy thing. It won’t be solved overnight. These people [the drug cartels] have their structure and are willing to wage a war with the government. I don’t think this will be over easily.
Do you think you can put up with the level of insecurity here for the next two years that your Master’s program will last?
When you come from a context of difficult situations, you learn to be resilient. That’s how it is. This is the hand I’ve been dealt. I’m going to try to stay here as long as I can, as long as the situation allows, because I came here with a goal, and I want to achieve it.