In the Ecuadoran port city of Guayaquil, a major hub in the international cocaine trade, the first instinct of many families is to search the Death Canal.Since 2023, the police have recovered over 100 bodies from this 45-kilometer (28-mile) waterway that runs through the district of Nueva Prosperina, one of the most dangerous districts in a city soaked in narco violence.In November, police found the bodies of nine beheaded people in a pit beside the channel.The canal was built over a decade ago to irrigate farmland but since the Covid pandemic, when drug-related violence in Ecuador exploded, it has begun filling up with corpses.
Locals walk along the Canal de la Muerte (Death Canal), in the Ecuadoran city of Guayaquil, where hundreds of bodies have been found in the midst of the country's drug wars © MARCOS PIN / AFP
A dirt path runs alongside the canal, dotted with trash piles, stray dogs and vultures.There is no street lighting nor security cameras in this area, which is patrolled by armed men on motorbikes.From a nearby hill, AFP could see houses without windows occupied by gang members."They point their rifles at us from down there," said a police officer who led AFP to the lookout. "Nothing happens here without their permission."A murder an hourEcuador has gone from being one of Latin America's safest countries to its deadliest in a few short years, with gangs linked to Mexican cartels engaging in drug trafficking, extortion, kidnapping and illegal gold mining.Ordinary Ecuadorans have been swept up in the violence.Georgina Bermeo's family found her body face-down in the canal in May, along with her husband's body.
