A high-profile prison escape. A TV station takeover. An assault on police. Today on “Post Reports,” how powerful gangs in Ecuador pushed this historically peaceful nation to the brink and led its new president to declare war.

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Ecuador has long been an ecotourism hub and a safe haven, mostly immune from the guerilla violence endured for decades in neighboring Colombia and Peru. But the country has experienced a shift in recent years, becoming a center for drug trafficking and organized crime, as global demand for cocaine surges to new levels.  

On Jan. 9, this new reality came into full focus through coordinated attacks that shook the country to its core, culminating on live TV for all of Ecuador and the world to witness. The Post’s Bogotá bureau chief, Samantha Schmidt, and Ecuadorian journalist Arturo Torres have spent months reconstructing what exactly happened that day: how the chaos unfolded, the extent to which gangs infiltrated institutions, and President Daniel Noboa’s controversial response, giving unprecedented power to the military. 

Piecing together the details through exclusive interviews and footage revealed a deeper truth, Schmidt tells “Post Reports,” which is that the crisis in Ecuador isn’t an outlier. What happened that day and the complicated aftermath represent “a canary in the coal mine” moment and a warning for all of Latin America. 

Today’s show was produced by Elana Gordon. It was mixed by Sean Carter and edited by Monica Campbell. Thanks to Maggie Penman, Arturo Torres and Peter Finn.

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