From Oil Boom To Cocaine Crisis: Ecuador's Steep Decline

Cocaine-fueled violence is sweeping across the tiny South American country of Ecuador. The crisis-prone Andean country of less than 20 million, which enjoyed a massive oil boom at the start of the twenty-first century that lifted millions out of poverty, has until recently managed to avoid the bloodshed associated with narcotics trafficking. In a region long troubled by the conflict Ecuador was known as an island of peace despite being wedged between the world’s largest cocaine producers Colombia and Peru. Soaring cocaine production…