Europe's cocaine habit is devastating South America
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“Cocaine is the criminal steroid”
Ecuador was known for decades as Latin America’s ‘island of peace’. It didn’t have the violent drug cartels that sow chaos in Mexico and Colombia or the high murder rates of Brazil and Venezuela. That is until a series of events completely overhauled the drug trade and Ecuador found itself with the world’s most valuable trafficking route. Just a few years later, Ecuador has the highest murder-rate in South America and criminal gangs are threatening to overrun the country. This video explains why Ecuador has become so violent, and reveals what Europe has to do with it.
View our sources: docs.google.com/document/d/1J...
Correction:
7:27 Romania and Bulgaria are mislabeled on the map shown, and should be swapped.
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Search Party is led and produced by Sam Ellis, a journalist, director, editor, and animator based in New York City. For more than 6 years, Ellis produced the hugely popular video series, Vox Atlas, for which he earned an Emmy nomination. He specializes in breaking down the most complex new stories and presenting them with a refreshing, accessible, and engaging visual style.
He’s produced explainers on some of the world’s thorniest geopolitical stories; from corruption scandals in Latin America, conflict in the Middle East, and the rise of China, to the world of sports; the Monaco Grand Prix, the FIFA corruption scandal, and the 100-foot waves of Nazaré, Portugal. Ellis has also directed multiple episodes of TV; notably on Netflix’s ‘Explained’ and HBO Sport’s ‘Level Playing Field’.
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Very informative! Thank you for continuing to share our mission Search Party!
If anyone's interested in getting the full picture of issues like the one in this video, check out the link in the description and let us know if you have any questions.
It's kinda jarring when you cut between your own narration and splices of dialog from your interview with the expert so many times.
This is more anti white racism. If we are selling drugs, we are taking advantage and destroying people/communities. If we consume them, all of sudden we are not the victims of the drug dealers, we are still the ones taking advantage and destorying people/communties.
What is so ironic is the narrative no matter what way you spin it, always has the white people in a position of power.
7:27 Please correct this mistake with the map.
@@RhiannonSenpai Oh he mixed up Bulgaria and Romania. Kind of embarassing.
Why cartels are not considered terrorist organizations is beyond me.
Because they are not, they are businesses, organizations the word cartel is actually a business terms its not related to criminals, it defines a company that controls a sector, second there is no extra power needed to combat drug trafficking by using the terror denomination, they are not driven by ideology but money and third you do not have the support of the public in their home countries and something the US learned well is you can’t do anything without the locals supporting you thats how they lost Afghanistan AND Iraq.
because they own our politicians as much as the Mexican ones.
@@ericktellez7632yea, newspeak can make terrorist thugs into businessmen. Excellent propaganda. Sinaloa says checks in the mail.
That will do nothing, the US War on drugs has been going practically for half a century now and production and demand continue to increase..
@@ericktellez7632pedantic short sighted self serving codswallop
I'm Ecuadorian and I loved this video. Even though I have been quite in touch with local news on the criminal surge, I was surprised with numerous ties this video made, such as the role of the peace treaty with FARC in the violence over here. Great video
South America
Never blames itself
Corruption will become cancer
Liar
Of course we do need more snow from S.America and more toys from North America greetings🇪🇺🥳
Supply and demand, a tale as old as the hills....
Topic for a video idea: the issue of U.S. pedophiles coming to Colombia and the issue with sex trafficking as a whole, today it is a very relevant topic in the country
That's actually a really good topic to cover. I believe someone from Florida was busted for pedophile activities in Colombia recently which was sickening.
Also Why Thailand is what it is today.
German all over Thailand too
+1 and not only from US. They also come from Europe and Israel
All the Colombians illegally crossing the USA are being arrested for crimes against minors. Total pedos.
Ecuador isn't a market of peace if you're a white tourist. 6 months travelling through Latin America. No problems. 2 weeks to the end, robbed 3 times in Guayaquil in 2 weeks.
So I guess Indian, Vietnamese and Singaporean tourists are safe to travel through Ecuador, right?
@@OnlineSafety-ng7etSometimes thieves see Indians as ‘cheap’ and think there’s no point in trying to rob them
@@OnlineSafety-ng7etVery likely.
Traveling in Ecuador myself, I knew to stay out of Guayaquil long ago- 2016 and 2017, except for using the excellent bus station to transit to a safer area. The city was already not a place to be as a tourist. I can see it has not improved. I'm very sorry you were not properly warned.
I am from Ecuador and this video explains it incredibly well. It is unbelievable how fast things have changed here, and how bad it has gotten. It does affect everyone's daily lives, everyone know someone affected, everyone is somehow afraid, or avoids going out at night or exposing themselves. It is a real issue that needs to be in the spotlight. Thanks Sam for your videos and research!
Where in Ecuador are you from just out of curiosity? How is the situation from now compared to 5 years ago?
@@thelifewithnate I am from Guayaquil, the main port city mentioned in the video. The situation is very bad compared to what it was before. It is very complicated and kinda hard to explain in a message, but you can research the case Metastasis, which is ongoing and get more details about what is happening.
what have you done against it? A comment on the internet, good job
It's the suppliers who are to blame, not the US.
and yet it's not the fault of anyone else but your country.
Hello. There's a mistake at 7:27, Romania and Bulgaria are wrongly labeled. Thank you and keep up the good work :)
Americans man...
Thanks for catching that. My mistake -- will issue a correction.
Spoilers
@@vladomota9732 It’s a minor editing mistake it’s not that deep dude
@@vladomota9732 americans doesnt even know what bulgaria or romania is 😂
This is very well researched! Living the chaos and violence daily can sometimes be overwhelming and makes you forget how we got to this point.
This was a sad but important video to watch and thanks for covering this topic
As an Ecuadorian thank you so much for bringing attention to this topic, people have short memories and tend to forget things as soon as they leave the news.
As a wise man once said, "cocaine is a hell of a drug". All jokes aside, my heart goes out to the people of Ecuador with how fast the situation is worsening. I had no idea it was that bad with that and the Latin American region.
It's interesting to see how, for most Colombians, the peace deal meant nothing, as FARC splinter cells still formed or stray members joined other armed groups. But it did mean something, both for Venezuela and Ecuador.
An interesting subject of focus for a video could be the de-facto dollarization of Venezuela, and how informal markets make up the entire economy nowadays.
I hate to say it, but legalizing drugs seems to be the best way to combat criminal activity across the board here
Yes, it seemed to have worked in Portugal. Legalization doesn't work everywhere unfortunately. I think it depends on many factors for legalization to work.
@@thetruthfromthefuture We discrimnalized drug users not drug sellers ,anyone selling drugs will still be charged
Nah its not that simple.
You have to pick your poison here on decriminalizing. I think many pro drug war people are looking for zero drugs in society and won’t accept anything else even thou the consequences are worse.
@@Utilizador-gs3lx in Portugal?
No one prefers synthetic opioids. I'd argue cocaine's drop off started in America when they started adulterating it with synthetic opioids.
You got a point ☝
People sure as hell prefer synthetic opoids what are you talking about? OxyContin, hydrocodones? Hydro/oxymorphone? May I go on?
Oh my bad tho maybe I misunderstood haha not all the way thru the vid yet
@@miproduction6196 None of those are synthetic my dude. It's Fentanyl, and like alphamethylfentanyl, 3-methylthiofentanyl, acetyl-alphamethylfentanyl, bullshit. No one likes them.
@@chesthoIe is semi-synthetic still not synthetic?
Ecuadorian here. This video does not show that Ecuador had more equality than Colombia, Venezuela or Peru. However, starting 2016, inequality grew through tax cuts to the rich, and lack of social investment, driving the poor and uneducated to be attracted to crime.
Same story in most of latin america, here in Costa Rica, the breach between low and middle class and the elites is growing exponentially, a lot of young people have really no other choice than to be part of the cartels, or be killed.
Yes. This video lacked a lot of context. I've seen interviews with Ecuador's former foreign minister, Guillame Long, who explains the link between the US and Ecuador's new right-wing government, including how Diana Salazar is doing the prosecutorial bidding of the US and is being groomed to be the next leader of Ecuador.
Name a more iconic combination than the US government supporting right-wing politicians and their country becoming a failed state.
Yup so let’s blame the Europeans like the title suggests? No accountability from any of these third world countries
how do you propose to solve the problem. @@Baseballboy7197
Nobody in the world is going to stop doing coke. It’s not realistic. They should just legalise it and let it become South America’s number one export.
Pretty much, cigarettes are legal
Most rational druggie solution, cocaine is highly addictive, I don't see a world where making it legal is a good thing.
@@krankvegannhe's never been around deranged violent crackheads obviously
@@elGamiRealgenius level comparison 👍🤡
That and ' regulation for safe supply" are the 2 things dummies parrot the most. Our governments can bomb the world for oil, gold, diamonds, opium but won't bomb the coca fields to prevent the insane crime and health issues across " the West" due to coke and crack. Because chaos is used to rule us and they re junkies themselves who can afford endless untainted supplies and hiding from general society in their resorts, summer homes, yachts, etc
Coke used to be a really upper class kind of drug, but the prices have sunk so low that it's actually become more affordable. And I think that is the main issue here, quality is up, prices are down. Yet it is still insanely profitable.
Where do you live? In Europe, it's always slightly less than a day's wage for a single gram. It only goes up over the years. Country to country where it lines up with a day's wage quite well where the further you go north the more expensive it is, bar the netherlands.
As a guy from the hoods of Guayaquil, let me tell you, GTA is fcking safe compared to this crazy city, personally I like it bc I’m one of those who likes to break the laws everyday and this city is sin city, but it’s not for everyone, bullets, guns, dangerous girls, dangerous party’s, massacres in parties (came to kill one, but ended up killing the entire party stuff) gets in your head, I didn’t notice until I reunited with old friend who fled from country before the “war” and the tell me that I clearly have ptsd from living here.
Like we cannot hear a motorcycle without losing our shit. Same with tinted cars, and no plate cars.
I know I could be killed this same day but I enjoy and most importantly, I really love my city.
Stay safe out there brother. Wish you all the best.
Average ptsd affected person
I love ur honesty ❤🎉..
we can only work with what were given …
Stay safe 🙌🙌
Bless you and avoid those girls ❤
THANK YOU FOR THESE STORIES
It's almost like making items and consumables illegal causes more problems than it solves. Didn't we learn this during Prohibition a century ago?
This whole argument has been fully debunked. The more liberal societies on drugs have far higher drug problems than those who strictly criminalise it. Just look at Singapore, Saudi Arabia etc. Then compare them to places like Oragon in tge United States who got rid of all drug laws.
portugal was ahead of the curve legalizing that stuff
@@grimaffiliations3671 We didn't legalize it per se; we just allow people to carry small amounts for personal consumption. Drug dealers, etc. are still criminals and punished as such, according to the law.
Does that logic apply with guns though
@@SASMADBRUV7 absolutely
As a Colombian, all I can say is that FARC have not ceased operations, but they were given representation in the senate 😢
Lo que hay ahora son disidencias que han aprovechado la ausencia del Estado en lugares antes controlados por las extintas FARC. Las disidencias != FARC.
Representation in the government, doesn’t mean you have power, especially in Colombia.
They were only give 3 terms. The government broke the agreements , never delivered in its promises so off course people who had absolutely nothing would go back to what they only knew.
Really? The LYING Farcers!
As a Colombian the official stance is that they are a residual armed group known as FARC dissidents. The original and official FARC even got out of the USA terrorist group list.
Welcome back, Sam! Praying for lesser gaps between videos and you’re speedily headed to 350K subscribers.
Your animation is insane! The effort put into visualising huge data sets would make any Geographer glee!
Sam your videos are a gift. Thanks for all your hard work, it’s inspiring.
I love this kind of work, you & Johnny are doing. Keep up the hard work, its only up from here.
If you ever need an extra researcher or anything, feel free to reach out. I'd love to help, if needed.
it's like playing whack-a-mole..
Loved the animation !🤩
Really infromative video and it's been so awesome to see the progress of search party, really well done. Got a video idea though, as an Australian and an IR student one thing that's been discussed recently that intersects the US, Australia and China is what is going on in the Solomon Islands and their upcoming elections, I think a search party video and some great maps could really elevate the story of that islands politics and the geostrategic situation taking place there. Keep up the awesome work and there is a sporting dimension to it as they recently held they recently held the Pacific games.
"El día que dejen de comprar, ése día dejamos de vender".
So it's okay to let gangs rules south America, right? And it's okay to make cocaine?
🎉
If there's a market for it people will procure it. Regardless of laws rules and regulations. Either that money goes to governments in taxes or just funds Illegal Drug Cartels.
@@salted_lizard worked great with cannabis
Amazing video as always. You’ve long secured a permanent viewer here.
Thank you for shinning a light to my countries problems
can you please share the sources used in this video.....great video btw
Just added them to the description, thanks for asking!
@@Search-Party Thanks for the sources.......the topics you choose are always very intriguing, it would be great if u continue to add sources in your future videos
Great work as always. If I could just suggest something, proper English subtitles on these videos would always be much appreciated. The automated one is decent but at times difficult to read (due to no punctuation or pauses in speech), or simply misses entire words. Subtitles are a great help to both ESL peeps and deaf/hearing impaired folks.
Great video, thanx. Ive very saddened by the situation in Equador. Btw: as a former journalist, ive enjoyed using Ground News. It has helped debunk so many sensational stories written about North Korea. Subscribed
Ecuador is a beautiful country, I have many relatives there. After a decade of watching President Correa destroy Ecuador and the run scares to Belgium, the people have rallied behind President Noboa and I wish his admin the best. Viva Ecuador 🇪🇨
Are you an *mbecile? The peak for Ecuador was during Correa’s tenure, he made Ecuador the second safest country in Latin America, one of the lowest poverty rate in the region, close to no unemployment, everything started to get worse when Lenin replaced him and thats on the stats its not an opinion.
Running to Belgium? Noboa literally ran to Miami with his tail tucked when he nearly made Mexico blockade your ports.
You are right, one of the most beautiful countries, period. It is heartbreaking to see the wonderful people suffering. Honest question: Colombia is a Narco state, has been for quite a while, from police, fiscalia and secret services up to governments at any level. Is this happening in Ecaudor now? Could it be that Lenin Moreno's kinda coup d'etat within Correa's party was part of the takeover? I mean however bad Correa's policies might have been, there was an obvious influence from outside of politics, right?
I hope so much that the people of Ecuador can recover security and prosperity, the Salvadorians showed that unconventional measures can be successful.
I mean, not our fault their cocos quality are so good, did you know what we had prior to them?
Extremely well-researched video! Thanks for sharing such good explanation to your audience! (and you look very handsome too!)
Great vid, Sam!
Great Video Thanks!
Good vid. Just the ad bit for Ground News took a good chunk of the vid.
Fascinating story and incredible animation work as always 👏another great Search Party vid
Thank you so much 😀
Good journalism at its best am a fan of this channel
About Colombian peace agreement, it didn’t solve it, we are still struggling with guerrillas like FARC and ELN
Did that British guy really refer to South Americans as "The Latins"?! LMAO "SPARTA!!!"
Great content!! Keep it up!
would like to see a long format video from this channel.
awesome but we need frequent and longer uploads.
That was a really great video, very informative! Nevertheless, I think that one important thing was left out. When you mentioned that the cycle begins in the Andes Mountains, where the Coca leaves are grown, the spectator can get the impression that these leaves are only good for producing the dr*g, and therefore countries should fight its cultivation to begin with. On reality, the indigenous populations of the andes have cultivated the plant since times immemorial, because chewing them helps to counter the symptoms of altitude sickness (quite important thing in a region of the world where there are full fledged cities up 4000m in the mountains). Coca leaves even have religious importance to some communities. I think that there wouldn't be a need to go in depth about the cultural significance nor the medical benefits of Coca leaves, but a very brief sidenote on the issue would do real good.
7:28 you got Bulgaria and Romania mixed up on the map
Hey, I have an idea: how about legalizing cocaine and taxing it like alcohol?
You should do a video on the space industry and we’re it’s heading
What editing app are you using for video making?
Adobe After Effects for animation, Adobe Premier for editing.
@@Search-Party tbh wasn't expecting for a reply, thanks a lot. Keep up the good work.🙏
I'm from one of biggest techno /party Hotspots in Europe it's getting easier to get it and the price is going down while the quality is getting better it's like a flood
So you are putting the blame on the consumers? 😂 dude wtf
Nice video!! Would like to propose a second part that explains and integrates the routes through Africa. These last years have shown several disrupting events in the sahel (Jihadism, military coups, civil wars, etc.) and I'm sure they've affected for better or for worse.
Absolutely love your videos! Video idea: You should do a video on Athletic Club Bilbao’s transfer policy in comparison to other European football teams. Athletic club have an unwritten rule whereby the club will only sign players who were born in the Basque Country or who learned their football skills at a Basque club. They’ve also just won the Copa del Rey in Spain.
No, the unregulated ban of coca is devastating south america. You nerver read about the central stimulating drug coffee devastating south america are you?
Well if there was a unregulated ban on coffee we sure would cuz there is No way europeans would give up their coffee ever.
This video was incredible.
I think that we could use this title for basically every interaction between Europe and south America since 15th century. Great video and amazing work!
Kinda disappointed how you didnt discuss the issues of prohibition at all, and simply blamed consumers. Would you have covered alcohol prohibition in the same way?
Where do you get such amazing music for these videos Sam?
check it out: th-cam.com/channels/LB2sZa0kqPmkw2Bes59ePA.html
What software is that?
Can you make a video on the NFL’s possible expansion into Europe, and all the logistics that would go into that, and if it’s even feasible at all? Thank you so much for the content!!
@@tengille I know, but I would love to see this guy cover it because it’s right up their alley
pls cover the SRI LANKAN CIVIL WAR REALLY INTERESTING
I wouldn't want to see the comments section under that video
Rajiv Gandhi assassination was one of the spark of the Civil War
I wish that ad was longer
What was that series called? On Netflix about cocaine smuggling from South America to Europe.
Zero zero zero
Zero zero zero
Sam what monitor are you using?
Gotta go after the demand, but to do that…we need to fix the economies in those destination areas.
Doesn't more of it go to the United States though?
The uk rn is experiencing a cocaine epidemic. I left for the military in 2012, at that point I was already pretty concerned with my working class friends drug habits, now I’m home and they’ve been joined by my middle class friends. Apparently it’s completely normal now to use cocaine on a weeknight, as if it were a light beer or two.
Same as buying a packet of Fags atm😢
Rogando por los subtítulos en español 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻
We need to end the war on drugs, it’s been a massive failure, legalizing and regulating it is the only way for this to end
Bulgaria and Romania switched places. wow
Same issues in Europe. Gang violence has escalated and become more vicious & violent like never before. Started around 2012.
This was good but I feel it could be a little more detailed on some parts. Like for on solutions or whats being done about it.
Island of peace???? It's not an island.. peace, we must have different definition of peace.
EIRENE
What kind of analytical tools does the team use for analysis and tools for data visualization???
even in my remote pueblo in the mountains of andalucia its rife. loads of folk use it.
Odd you didn't mention Australia. Huge market here!
Blaming euros for their “habit” that those countries flood with drugs but it’s their fault for doing them
What Application does he use to show these maps?
Adobe After Effects mostly
Is there really a land route? From another doc I was watching there is no direct road and it's extremely dense snd difficult on foot I doubt all that cocaine is going north by foot
Amazing work keep it coming!
This is probably the first channel that has connected the dots....amazing work
I've been thinking the same as this video title for some time now. The demand out there for this shit is enormous. Everyone says the same bullshit: "Me using/buying or not isn't going to change anything". The negative effects are quietly accepted or ignored.
why doesn't the government just legalize or decriminalize it?
Bc it solves absolutely nothing
You left out the trail FARC ran which is also up grabs! It ran from Guayaquil through Colombia then loaded onto small boats to MX.
Simple solution - legalise every aspect of it all the way up to the border (overseas smugglers to deal with international shipping while everything related to the business nationally is fully legal).
Don't over tax it either. Aim is to make it unprofitable for cartels to fight over it.
In every business field there's goldilocks of what operations are adding value to the business and what eats into profits; why fight, recruit and loose soldiers, waste countless dollars on arms and operations while small family farm down the road makes bigger profit with smaller overhead by working smarter.
But since politicians are on the dirty payroll, we will never see the light of day when that happens.
Unrelated but loved the strokes shirt
do one on the cod wars❤❤
Major oversight: in Europe we think that with opening of borders, gangs organised paneuropean, whilst governments did not at all. This way, the government agencies were at huge disadvantages
I read an article called "I Wish the U.S. would declare war on Insurance" It said the so-called war made cocaine more abundant, cheaper and the quality has gone way up.
I’m Ecuadorian, and I believe the big problem with Ecuador is the official corruption. This is the source of a lot of the bureaucracy in Ecuador and the reason criminal gangs did get this rich, powerful, and dangerous.
If the Ecuadorian state is serious about ending these problems, they’re going to have to start from the top - the official corruption. Ecuador needs a court similar to what the Colombians did in the 1990s with Proceso 8.000.
Mate, do you have family still living in Ecuador? How bad has the situation gotten compared to a couple of years ago?
@@thelifewithnate I do have family in Guayaquil. And yeah, the situation has gotten bad, but a lot of the origins of these gangs are from official corruption that has allowed them for decades. It’s gotten bad quickly right now, but this has been simmering for a very long time and it’s only now that it’s a crisis.
I'm in Latin America and was sad to learn how Ecuador's crime has risen, I was told much of it comes from displaced Venezuelans, and not just Ecuador. Anyone else have knowledge on this?
I really like your work since ancient Vox times. I am from Colombia, a sociologist with fieldwork experience in peasant regions where coca is planted, and cocaine is produced. Your research is misleading in many levels. But after all your conclusion is plainly wrong: the solution is not in consumers hands; it is the outdated, hypocritical and moralistic US antidrug policy. With legalization, there is no more such a lucrative business. Also, you are missing a huge point: huge coca fields are returning to Peru, but mainly they are moving from Colombia to central America.
the unintended consequences of drug prohibition
I am subscribed and like every video but for some reason i dont get shown videos until theyre a week old or so. Seems like bad algorithm tendencies
Its interesting that the opportunity of selling cocaine. Is directly linked to the change of economic systems in eastern Europe. No communism more drugs. Question is how true is this statement. An what's that mean.
It means that under communism people were too poor to afford cocaine and the iron curtain prevented a lot of smuggling between the east and west
Great work team. 🎉🎉🎉
I like for this Chanel and Jhonny’s they always make the problems in the world be Europe’s fault 😅