For decades, discussions about Latin America’s cocaine trade have tended to focus on the same places. Colombia and Peru produce much of the world’s coca, while Mexico’s cartels dominate trafficking into the US. But between these known parts of the supply chain, another country has quietly become important: Ecuador.

Ecuador is not a major cocaine producer. Instead, its location between Colombia and Peru, combined with ports such as Guayaquil and Posorja on the Pacific Ocean, have turned Ecuador into a crucial transit and export hub connecting South American cocaine production with global markets.

A recent US investigation shows how sophisticated these connections have become. On August 20, the US Treasury sanctioned an Ecuador-based trafficking network accused of moving thousands of kilograms of cocaine each month through the eastern Pacific to Mexico and on to the US.

Eight individuals, seven companies and ten vessels were targeted, with alleged connections to Ecuador’s Los Choneros and Los Lobos crime groups and Mexico’s Sinaloa and Jalisco New Generation cartels.

Some of the vessels identified by US authorities were linked to apparently legitimate fishing businesses around the coastal city of Manta. Ecuador has a large fishing and aquaculture export industry. Larger vessels allegedly provided fuel and supplies to smaller high-speed boats, which carry cocaine northwards.

We often imagine a clear boundary between criminal and legitimate economies. But,........

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