This week, incumbent Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa scored a decisive victory in the country’s presidential election, racking up a last-minute double-digit lead over rival candidate Luisa González. Noboa presented himself as a tough-on-crime candidate, though his efforts in his first term to quell Ecuador’s ongoing security crisis have so far yielded minimal results. Homicide rates remain at record highs, and Noboa has not yet articulated any long-term plan to meaningfully tackle the country’s powerful criminal groups.  

Also this week, we explore why the Noboa family’s banana business may make the president reluctant to enact reforms to improve the security of supply chains vulnerable to being contaminated by drug trafficking groups; we analyze a historic UN resolution that could dramatically reshape global drug policies; we explain what’s behind the recent series of grenade attacks in Colombia’s capital Bogotá; and we interview an expert in illicit finance to learn more about what record gold prices mean for the region’s criminal groups

This and more below.

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In an election dominated by concerns about the rising threat of organized crime, Ecuador voted in current President Daniel Noboa for a full four-year term, during which he will have a chance to create a more coherent anti-crime strategy than the one he employed during his interim presidency.

For the second time in as many years, Noboa, of the National Democratic Action Party (Acción Democrática Nacional – ADN), defeated Luisa González, of the Citizen Revolution (Revolución Ciudadana – RC) party, on April 13. The two had faced off in a 2023 special election.

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In early April, co-director Steven Dudley took part in a closed-door meeting on port security in Hamburg, Germany, organized by the EU-LAC foundation and the German Institute for Global and Area Studies (GIGA). During the two-day workshop, representatives of governments, think tanks, and universities shared knowledge and understanding regarding criminal dynamics across the globe, as well as best practices on how to deal with these challenges in Europe and beyond.

Our 2021 investigation Cocaine Pipeline to Europe explores in detail the long history of cooperation between crime groups of both regions and the rise of Europe as the world’s most lucrative cocaine market.  

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This Week's Criminal Profile: Red Command

Brazilian police launched raids in recent days aimed at dismantling money laundering activities linked to the criminal group Red Command (Comando Vermelho - CV). The authorities suggested that the organization laundered roughly 6 billion reais ($1 billion) of drug money each year, using a variety of financial technology firms, digital banks, and even links to rivals-turned-allies the First Capital Command (Primeiro Comando da Capital – PCC).

The Red Command is Brazil’s oldest criminal group. From its origins in a Rio de Janeiro prison, it has since grown into one of the region’s most formidable drug trafficking organizations, with operations in Brazil, Bolivia, Venezuela, Peru, and Paraguay.

Trending: Blood Gold Claims Another Victim in Colombia

Earlier this month, Jaime Gallego became the 33rd social leader to be murdered in Colombia in 2025. We followed Jaime for ten years for our investigative podcast series, exploring Colombian blood gold through the strange tale of how the mining town of Segovia became a mafia stronghold. Gold prices have continued to hit record highs in recent weeks, increasing potential returns from illegal mining activity for criminal groups.

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