What’s Happening in Ecuador: The Origins and Dimensions of Violence

What are the underlying structural causes of the drug-trafficking violence that engulfed parts of Ecuador in early January? In which regions of Ecuador was/is the violence and the drug trade concentrated and why?

What are the global/external factors that promote the continued growth of narco-trafficking? Does the government’s militarized strategy to combat gangs involved in narco-trafficking make sense?

Have such repressive policies worked elsewhere in Latin America or anywhere else? What are the alternative policies that might be pursued?

Chaired by Patrick Taylor and Liisa North, CERLAC fellows from York University.

Carlos Larrea is a graduate in philosophy, Catholic University of Ecuador, Quito; master in social sciences, Bariloche Foundation; PhD in political thought, York University, Toronto; postdoctoral in health and development, Harvard University and Pan American Health Organization, Boston. He is an author of numerous books and articles on political-economic and environmental issues.

This event is being co-sponsored by Canadian Association of Latin American and Caribbean Studies (CALACS) and by the Department of Spanish & Portuguese at the University of Toronto.