Name: Ecuador’s disappeared: Inside one family’s search for answers
Uploaded: 2026-06-04T18:10:14+00:00
Description: Not long ago, Ecuador was one of the safest countries in Latin America. Now, it is one of the deadliest. Violent drug cartels have arrived from around the world — from Mexico to the Balkans — to secure cocaine trafficking routes to the coast.

Not long ago, Ecuador was one of the safest countries in Latin America. Now, it is one of the deadliest. Violent drug cartels have arrived from around the world — from Mexico to the Balkans — to secure cocaine trafficking routes to the coast.

Not long ago, Ecuador was one of the safest countries in Latin America. Now, it is one of the deadliest.

Violent drug cartels have arrived from around the world — from Mexico to the Balkans — to secure cocaine trafficking routes to the coast.

Homicide rates have skyrocketed. President Daniel Noboa has pinned his hopes of lowering the violence on heavy police and military deployments across the country.

In doing so, his government has been plagued with allegations of human rights abuses, including enforced disappearances.

In a new episode of Fault Lines , Al Jazeera investigates the claim that 51 people have been forcibly disappeared during military operations since early 2024.

“For 2024 and 2025, we have 34 preliminary investigations that are currently under way, and 51 victims,” Leonardo Alarcon, the acting attorney general, told Al Jazeera in an exclusive interview.

"The cases are progressing, but the investigations have to be objective and conducted rigorously in order to present the judge with the necessary and compelling evidence to prove the case.”