Thank you for saying this. Yeah, I really feel that we couldn’t have a better president to handle this situation. The odds are stacked against him but he has a chance of succeeding if he is able to get enough support from the international community. For a small country like Ecuador to go up against international cartels that are able to outspend the government is a difficult task.

I appreciate that. Please do share. Also, please try to stop using the caps key and type normally.

ARE YOU OLD AS HELL? WHY YOU TYPE LIKE THIS

God bless you!

To anyone that has listened to this recording. would you think it would be a bad time to travel to Equador?

Why u shouting jk

Your description of the Sinaloa cartel reminds me of Pablo Escobar’s approach.

Sadly, I don't see the Ecuadorians having any "Will". They will go wherever the money is. They're looking for easy money. On the whole they are not much different than the Cartel. On the whole they will lie and they will steal whenever they can. Not only from gringos but also from each other. They want their money, but they rarely, if ever give anything of value in return. The fact so many of them are leaving Ecuador for "free stuff" is a testament to what I am saying. These are children, like the democrats in the U.S. offer them free ice cream and they'll vote for you and love you, or as long as you keep giving them free ice cream. smh

Yeah, having some sort of escape plan or at least being emotionally prepared to cut your losses and get out is important.

Glad to hear it!

Yes, it’s much calmer at the moment. My concern is with how the cartels respond after their initial losses. Perhaps we’ll get lucky and they will just roll over and accept defeat, but I doubt it.

I don't know where you live but here in Cuenca, after the first announcement and everyone was running for their homes and locking themselves in, it's pretty much forgotten. It's Carnaval time and they're out shooting silly string and water at each other. They remind me so much of children. They were scared but now, they have ice cream and they've forgotten all about the bad man. No healing required, just ice cream.

@@valarieknight7990 I don’t think Ecuadorians have forgotten, but culturally and psychologically they need to put their stress and worries on hold while they enjoy carnival. It’s very similar to how the U.S. can be in a recession and everyone struggling to pay their mortgage, yet people still go out and buy a bunch of stuff on credit for Christmas. People refuse to lose their cherished holidays and traditions.

I’m not particularly intimidated either, though my level of risk acceptance is a bit off from what most folks are comfortable with. Unfortunately, when it comes to full legalization and regulation, there are a lot of countries that do not have the resources or cultural resistance to manage it, and drug markets quickly move and shift. Legalization in California has resulted in high quality cannabis being smuggled south to Tijuana where it’s still illegal and sold for more than it can be in California. It’s a little bit of a myth that drug consumption in the U.S. (or Canada) is the root cause. Walking around cities like Armenia or Pasto in Colombia it was obvious there was a massive problem with local drug consumption. Of course as revenue drops for certain parts of the cartels’ businesses they just shift into human trafficking, extortion, etc… the problem is the cartels themselves and a culture that allows criminality to breed, even glorifies it.

As a European female I feel the same, me and my son wanna move there, Europe is probably going into war in the upcoming years. Not waiting to experience the same starvation as my Dutch grandmother had to go through. I don´t even have a garden like she had because prices are way to high. Ecuador seem like one of the last countries that has some freedom when choosing the right area.

@@MarVlas this is exactly what I felt when moving here and after 11 years here still what I feel. As an American that has seen American wars, has experienced Afghanistan, I want to be far away from whatever is coming next. Ecuador is far from perfect, but we live in a world where nothing is perfect but it is still possible to find islands of peace. Ecuador is accustomed to crisis. People know how to roll with the punches. They don’t freak out and start killing and robbing their neighbors. In times of crisis they band together and the communities grow stronger.

@@FallofftheMap That's what I was hoping for, the cultures were people know how to survive a food crisis and people that help each other. I am gonna watch your videos because I wanna know which areas are let's say still safe. I lived in the middle east were they also make almost everything from scratch, they're used to being poor and help each other out, so I knew what to look for but then not in the middle east. Glad I found your channel.

I don’t know that most of my videos will be helpful to you in this very specific search but you’re definitely asking the right questions. The best answers are something you find by spending weeks or months exploring different communities here.

I am confident that Ecuador will get through this situation, though I think it will take longer and be more difficult than most people want to believe.

You’re welcome. Here’s to hoping I’m wrong.

You’re welcome.

You’re welcome

Of course I agree with you about what should happen, but I already see some exhaustion for people in the campo. If, as I suspect, there is a more coordinated campaign of violence and disruption I think it has a reasonable chance of sabotaging Noboa.

In my opinion, it is easier for an expat or a wealthy Ecuadorian to support a continued fight against the cartels and corruption. However, many Ecuadorians live day to day or have maybe 1 or 2 weeks of savings. They are selling water, mangos, or coconut in the streets, and when there are fewer people out on the streets due to fear their situation degrades rapidly. Some workers are losing their jobs and small businesses are seeing far fewer customers. An agricultural worker in rural Ecuador may have a newborn baby who needs $70 worth of baby formula per month. His 1st job pays $280/ per month and his second job pays $100 and with that their family is barely making it and now he just lost his second job and can't afford baby formula or another family has to pull their child out of private school and therefore their child has a much lower chance of getting into a university and earning a decent salary. These are also families who have witnessed members of the police and military be part of extortion and kidnapping rackets along with the cartels. It is a much bigger sacrifice for them to endure an economic downturn due to instability and they probably have less faith in the government and institutions. While it probably is the best thing to drop the hammer down and have a firm hand on these cartels in the long term, many of these people are barely keeping their heads above water at present and the future is a luxury. They are desperate for the economy to improve and can't afford to wait too long for things to get better and that is why they are thinking it may be better to just compromise with the cartels.

@@josephgarceau6753 exactly. This is what the cartels understand that I suspect few expats and few people within the Noboa government understand. The clock is ticking on Noboa’s wave of public support.

Welcome 😊

I agree with all of that, but I also think we are in for a rough patch between now and the next election in Ecuador.

For both the US and Ecuador the next elections are crucial I admire Ecuador for how the government has responded. How many people and drugs captured kudos to yo😊 If the US would do this without wanting to elect a crazed strongman, “I want to be dictator for life” BS, I wouldn’t be looking for an exit strategy. But sadly we are the country those drugs are being supplied to. It’s the root of many problems here God bless Ecuador and the US, deliver us both from evil.

Plz do not compare Ecuador with the states

Literally minutes after uploading the video there was a text message about two local businesses being robbed in the little town near my farm. We will have to wait and see what the coming days bring.

Ace, I appreciate hearing from you and would love to have a longer discussion for both of our KZfaq audiences to hear. I absolutely believe that Noboa is the best possible president we could hope for right now. However, my outlook isn’t super positive because the challenges are bigger than Ecuador. I do think things will eventually be better than they are now, but I don’t expect a victory over the cartels. I expect a negotiated peace after a period of chaos and suffering. I hope I am wrong. I would love to tell everyone about how wrong I was.

Because El Salvador had several advantages Ecuador doesn’t have. Bukele planned his war against the gangs well. Before going to war with them he first negotiated with them in bad faith, tricking them into thinking they were safe, while he purged the courts of corruption. He built his new prisons, then he made his move against the cartels. In Ecuador the cartels have had the opportunity to learn from their mistakes in El Salvador. When Noboa announced his plan to build a new supermax prison the cartels knew to act first and not wait until the government was perfectly positioned to destroy them. Ecuador is more strategically important to current smuggling routes than El Salvador so the international cartels will put more resources into fighting Noboa.

COPIED FROM ANOTHER COMMENTER... One of the reasons the Sinaloa cartel has been incredibly successful is that, in at least Mexico, the leadership adopted a strategy of winning hearts and minds. Every other cartel in Mexico, and it would appear also to be the case in Ecuador, have a predatory mindset. In effort to maximize profit, they extort every business, and those are the businesses owners are allowed to keep. Often times, cartels outright steal people's farms and businesses via violence and coercion. While Sinaloa, on the other hand, builds hospitals, restores highways and provide free, or extremely discounted, food for the poor. People could just live their lives (historically). I realize Sinaloa's Ecuadorian proxies behave like heavy-handed thugs; oppressing and stealing from civilians. And sadly, I believe Ecuador may end up sharing a similar fate to that of Mexico. The only possible silver lining, which may not be relevant in the long run, is that the Ecuadorian gangs have completely alienated themselves from the public. El Salvador was damn near a failed state; anarchy and chaos were the norm. But somehow El Salvador's fortunes were reversed. Myself, and probably most people, thought El Salvador was a completely hopeless. Maybe with the right officials, and the will of the public (and law enforcement) Ecuador too can prevail.

Technically the sale of coca leaves is not legal in Ecuador, though there is no enforcement of the law for cultural reasons. This is why you can find people selling boxes of coca tea (usually imported from Peru) in front of the presidential palace in Quito. As for cocaine, there isn’t really any discussion about legalizing and taxing it in this part of the world. Under President Correa possession of small amounts of cocaine were decriminalized but rather than reducing the power of the mafias it seemed to have the opposite effect and domestic sales and consumption increased. That law that allowed possession of small amounts of cocaine, as well as most other drugs has been repealed. There’s also been significant evidence that marijuana legalization in places like California didn’t reduce the power of the Mexican cartels. They were able to quickly adapt and this is cited as one of the reasons they shifted toward fentanyl as a way to replace the marijuana revenue with something more profitable and more dangerous.

Sure, but nowhere near to the same extent. These tactics are far more effective in places where the government is weak, the rule of law is more of a suggestion than a standard, and the population is easily swayed by rumors and disinformation. And yes, I know, disinformation is a huge problem in places like the U.S. as well, but at least in the U.S. there is an organized and moderately effective effort to combat disinformation. In a place like Ecuador disinformation is the norm and basic facts about what is happening are unattainable for not only the general public but even for public officials.

Pretty bad. Ecuador is a tough place to guy by without Spanish unless you stick to tourist towns.

I don’t really look for electrical work in Ecuador. If I hear about someone who has a problem that is likely to be dangerous and local electricians have failed them then I may lend a hand on a case by case basis, but there’s no way I can charge enough for it to be worth my time to put my shingle out. In this particular case on the coast the combination of undersized wiring for the circuit breakers in a wooden house and no grounding on suicide showers worries me enough to want it fixed right because with those problems it’s a matter of when not if something tragic happens.

@@FallofftheMap oh my gosh, I know these Ecuadorian suicide showers all too well and I have never trusted them. When I was staying with an Ecuadorian familiy in Riobamba, I preferred switching off the cutout-switch in the bathroom and showered in cold water every morning for 2 months, cause I was too scared 😅

Have you seen how they build buildings? I went to visit a friend at Hotel Oro Verde, in the States this place would be condemned. I saw a building they're building down the road and it's already collapsing and they just started on it. smh They have no clue about negative and positive air pressure when it comes to plumbing. And for some reason they place 12 switches in a room where there's only one light. smh None of the floors are level. I asked an Ecuadorian friend of mine, who's building a home, why didn't flatten the land first? He said it was too expensive. I asked him how much would it cost to cut the land and flatten it for 1500sqft? He said it would cost $750! Seriously, you don't want to spend $750 and would rather have floors that are warped and wavy? smh

@@valarieknight7990 yes, sometimes it’s really difficult for us to understand people with priorities that are very different from our own. I can definitely see an Ecuadorian prioritizing saving $750 over having level floors.

Yeah, at the moment I’m more conserved with the short and mid term situation.

The Mafia had good intenciones after the chaos caused after the unification of Italy. There was no law and order. Unfortunately, much like most human endesvours corruption and abuse set in. It took a strong arm dictator like Il Duce to reel them into control. El salvador has its Mussillini .... Ecuador needs the same.

Yes, there’s radio silence about the Albanian cartel. I’ve tried to research it a bit without much luck. You touch on a point I didn’t think to make… the economic exhaustion of the average person in Ecuador as this situation drags on.

I haven’t deliberately censored any comments here and generally approve almost all comments even if I strongly disagree with them. In the history of my channel I think I’ve only deleted comments from one or two raging lunatics that were spewing abuse and unintelligible nonsense. That said, KZfaq often filters comments and I occasionally need to go into my unpublished comments tab to manually approve them. Thanks for the heads up. I’ll go check it now. Edit: checked the “unpublished” tab and didn’t see any comments filtered out by KZfaq. What motivated this comment? Anything specific or are you just mucking about creating doubt for the heck of it?

@@FallofftheMap OK, I did not think so, and I did not see any comments that were what I would consider inappropriate. However, when I look at some comments here and it will show like 3 replies, and I can maybe see 1. Must be some YT stuff going on. Thanks.

Weird. Sometimes I have a bit of a delay on the KZfaq app for comments to appear…

Everything is possible if you can throw enough money ey at it. Ecuador has no money to throw at the problem. They don’t know how they are going to continue paying for the salaries of their police and military, much less hiring more people to search every container leaving the port, protecting and paying those people enough to keep them from being corrupted by the cartels, buying the equipment necessary to x-ray shipments, etc…

The immature 11 year old in me desperately wants to make a your mom joke but I’m just not finding the angle.

Me too.

Yes, inviting the U.S. military back into Ecuador could be a game changer. The problem, however, is how distracted the U.S. is with other global problems and the timeline. It’s unlikely the U.S. will move with enough urgency to make a difference before the next election cycle in Ecuador, and if the correistas return to power they will kick the U.S. out again just as Rafael Correa did.

It’s not weird at all. It’s inevitable, though rather than an actual crime wave in the U.S. it’s much easier to just manufacture the illusion of a crime wave, or a wave of immigrants, or whatever crisis pushes your buttons. Wag the dog.

Noboa’s family is wealthy, but their wealth wouldn’t put a dent in the sort of economic need that Ecuador has right now. What you’re proposing is not well thought out. I do agree that the VAT increase isn’t a solution and would lead to a paro. I think it is reasonable to ask for financial help from the international community since this is not just an Ecuador problem. I think it may also be necessary to make some painful decisions such as selling some government owned resources like mineral rights.

I've been here a couple of years, and I can tell you very few businesses, actually pay taxes. Unless you specifically ask for a factura you are usually not taxed. However, there are also businesses who do charge tax but they don't pay it to the government they pocket it. I learned this when I noticed my local tienda was charging me tax but I wasn't getting an electronic factura and there was nothing showing up in my account showing I paid it. Ecuador relies mostly on the U.S. (almost a Billion dollars from Uncle Biden), China and Russia giving it money. They also get it from the large grocery stores, mall stores, hospitals, etc... but most businesses do not pay taxes. Which means most "working poor" don't pay taxes, it's optional.

@@valarieknight7990 Great insight regarding the local tienda asking you to pay tax when they aren't actually paying it to the goverment themselves. I'm trying to learn all I can before actually relocating to EC, a move I've been researching for at least two years. I don't know if it's true, but someone said Ecuadorian banks aren't taxed. Since banking tends to be more lucrative than many other businesses that was the main thought I was trying to put forward. I don't know if there would be unintended negative consequences to taxing bank profits; but it seems like a possible partial answer to the current funding problem and maybe something to consider.

@@FallofftheMap Thank you for your thoughts on the subject. I agree Ecuador needs help from the international community. Just was thinking if Noboa wants to be reelected in fourteen months, his own family contributing financially in a public way might speak to the hearts of the people and help him remain popular. Although he's already risking his life when he doesn't need to by trying to lead the country in a better direction.

The National Assembly rejected the bill to raise sales tax but just approved a bill to retroactively tax banks on profits they made last year. It’s a one off, so it only taxes bank profits from 2023. Because bank lending impacts so many other aspects of the economy I suspect they are trying out to see what sort of ripple effects it will have throughout the economy.

Noboa was elected in a special election outside the normal election cycles. Next election is in 14… now almost 13 months.

I hope you’re right. Talking g to my neighbors near my farm I hear an anti Noboa sentiment. They don’t look deeply into events to try to understand. There’s a crisis now they blame the current government. Yes, in the cities people tend to be more politically educated, but a huge percentage of Ecuador’s population is rural and votes based on what is happening right now rather than why it’s happening.

@@FallofftheMap I can agree with that sentiment

I hope you are right. I think the cartels learned and adapted from seeing what happened in El Salvador. I disagree about the importance of Ecuador to the cartels. As drug consumption shifted to Europe and Asia Ecuador and Venezuela became more important to the cartels than the traditional routes through Central America.

To some extent that is what Ecuador is doing. This all started when the president announced a new supermax prison modeled after the new prisons in El Salvador. The advantages Bukele had in El Salvador are that he was able to carefully choose his moment to go after the cartels. He tricked the cartels by pretending to negotiate with them while he built his prisons and purged the courts of corruption. Then, when he had everything in place he moved against the cartels quickly. In Ecuador the cartels have the advantage of learning from El Salvador and didn’t just wait until the government was ready to destroy them. The cartels moved first. The cartels in Ecuador are better funded than they were in El Salvador and the government had less power and money to wage war against the cartels than Bukele did. So far the government is still winning, it will be more difficult than it was in El Salvador even if similar tactics are used.

I know 30 members of the Albanian mafia were just arrested. The Albanian mafia has been active in Ecuador since the 90s. I don’t see a connection to European governments. Their attention is elsewhere at the moment. I do think there is a lot of interest and interference from China, Russia, and Venezuela.

The connection, if you pay attention to all of the S.A. governments is China. China is sponsoring the Cartel and supplying them. They are using the population of S.A. to flood the U.S. borders. I've seen Venezuela villages which are almost empty because they were told of all the "free stuff" if they go to the U.S. China is no longer hiding, and sending it's own "refugees" across the U.S. border. To focus on the Cartels, is the wrong place to focus. It is China.

Uh, he's not. He's going there to help someone out. And he said 'if' he can do a video, he will.

Telling me not to risk my life for a video tells me you haven’t seen some of my older videos. Traveling to Esmeraldas province during a cartel war will be a cakewalk compared to Afghanistan or the remote Antarctic field camps.

I don’t think so. In Ecuador you have maybe 3 or 4 percent of the population with any serious political education and ability to analyze events and situations. In the US I’d put that figure at about 35%.

Yeah, I wouldn’t put out info like what route I’m taking or what days im traveling. Simply sharing that I’m going to Mompichi seems pretty low risk.

Yeah, I do hope it’s wrong. I heard rumors of an attempt at a paro starting tomorrow.

What do you mean “how nasty the army is?” The military is extremely popular in Ecuador and has been effective at what no one else could accomplish, fighting the gangs. They are also a Latin American military and behave in some ways that are popular here but considered abusive by western society, such as beating and abusing prisoners. It is untrue that the narco-terrorists are not protected by any laws.

Thanks.

I agree with most of what you say. And we are fighting in the same side. However, I believe the challenges Noboa faces are greater than you realize. Yes, I believe the cartels will unleash a wave of violence in Ecuador in an attempt to swing the election. No, I don’t have confidence in the average Ecuadorian to see through the bullshit and continue to support Noboa. It’s a long shot and for Noboa to succeed he absolutely requires international support.

@@FallofftheMap Well, I don't live there (yet) so I can't claim to have a full read on the situation so you could very well be right. Mexico is quite different in that their organizations are much more sophisticated and embedded within society. I haven't heard of any Mexicans being caught up in raids in Ecuador, so the cartels in Ecuador seem supported and, to an extent, controlled by Mexican cartels but are much less sophisticated. The violent enforcers seem to be mostly Columbian and Venezuelan which shows the weakness of the Ecuadorian cartels since Ecuadorian criminals still seem to have some level of hesitance to do so much damage to their own people. Noboa would do well to focus on this more and speak more to the Ecuadorian hearts. "Don't do this to your own people, your own country." "We will work together to find ways to meet your needs to make a living for you and your family." "But you must renounce this life, you must tell your family to renounce this life because as long as you lead that life, you are an enemy to your people and your country." It doesn't need to be complicated, people don't have to be sophisticated to understand this message. The strength of Latin America is in their hearts. Excuse me if this is a bit of a rant. My opinion also is that US citizens are no more sophisticated than anyone else and the US has very bad things coming our way. And we allowed things to get this bad because many do not have the heart or sense of community enough to have stood up against it.

@@user-zc9od9wo5c dude, this is a beautiful well thought out comment. I appreciate it.

@@FallofftheMap Thank you. I put thought into it because my "American" dream has grown outside of the USA to include the rest of the Americas. Also, thank you for sharing your experiences in this world (and Ecuador) with us all. Your videos are important to many and I think this will be much more so in the next few years. Specifically, I want to thank you for this particular video as this hits very close to home for me right now. There is no other Ecuador content creator who has (or would) make such an honest assessment as you have. That speaks highly of your character and your intentions relating to your viewers. Since you have put yourself out there, that inspires me to share a bit as a token of gratitude: A number of family members are "concerned" and on a campaign to save me from myself in my decision to relocate. They share MSM articles of the worst of Ecuador and are concerned for my safety. Ironically, this would be the exact type of video they would share with me in an effort to alter my course. And it's not that I disregard the very real risks of what you say. I recognize that risk, have plans to manage that risk or alter course if I ultimately deem the risk as too high. I literally built a risk management tool for this that is better than what I used while I did that sort of work for a living. As a side note, I find it ironic that my friends and relatives feel the need to warn me about Ecuador while their fellow citizens buy drugs sourced from these same cartels. The USA is an addict nation looking down on their suppliers, all while being blind to the situation which is unfolding at home right before their eyes. Anyway, during my decision and planning process I have came to conclusion that US citizens are facing a dire situation they do not fully understand. Not just US resident citizens but expats who rely on US sourced income as well. It's not until you start setting up your finances and asset growth/preservation measures that you realize how trapped you are within the USD/US financial system. Risk of debt driven USD collapse and resulting USD depreciation/rapid inflation is so high it's almost assured at this point regardless of who wins the next election. How this plays out in USD based Ecuador is a subject into itself. There are no easy answers to this because information sources are very limited and every source has its own agenda. In my opinion the longer term, and more devastating, threat to US (& Canada) citizen expats in Ecuador is more financial than it is the physical safety issues. It is with this thought that I decided to share much more than I normally would. The physical safety risks are actually easier to mitigate than the financial risks. Money buys security. No money and everything in your life is more at risk. Most expats right now have the "luxury" of being able to increase security or move around to safer areas because they have the resources to do so. What happens when one is a resident in a foreign country and wakes up one morning broke and can't work locally? US citizens are insulated and think that can't happen to them so they have no plan for that. But its happened numerous times in numerous places, Ecuador being one of them. Germany, Argentina, some African countries. So, it happens and the USA is flashing the same warning signs as those countries did prior to their crashes. Note: The times it did happen, it happened basically overnight. Leave work Friday and life was kinda ok. Wake up Monday morning flat broke. Expats are generally viewed positively there, in large part because they bring an influx of money into the local economies. This view would change substantially if there are large numbers of expats suddenly too broke to exit and competing for local jobs in an economy where the locals also suffer from the same USD collapse issue. That is the unique situation that USD based Ecuador represents. Expats personal safety situation would change substantially in this situation. This isn't my wingnut opinion, this is the conclusion of a solid risk assessment using the tools I was trained to use. I sincerely want to help those who are like minded soon to be neighbors and have similar concerns/issues facing them. In heavily regulated (confined) US I don't want to "give unlicensed financial advice", but I'll mention the below in a free exchange of ideas. None of it detailed enough to provide individual solutions but may be helpful to get going in the right directions. - Always good to have a fully paid roof over ones head. - IBKR provides access to worldwide diversified investments. I'm not selling them but there are tools that can be used with them that allows one to grow more sophisticated and build broader portfolios. - Most US investors are mistaken in thinking their citizenship blocks them from certain investments. That's not always the case. It's often their "US residency" that blocks them. So, being a citizen but non-US resident can be an advantage that expats need to research heavily. - The previous is a complex issue. Citizenship/Residency is a minefield of tax and investing issues. US non-resident citizens are blocked from buying both US and foreign mutual funds. What's that mean for one's 401k? Converting to IRA, liquidating mutual funds and having to pick US ETF's or stocks to rebuild a portfolio. Expats are effectively blocked from foreign ETF's unless they find ones that provide an annual PFIC statement and have a good tax preparer. - Crypto is not a safe haven in market turmoil, not good as a currency nor a "solid value" as an investment. - People who think Gold is a safe hedge should read about how that worked out for Argentina (and South Korea for that matter) and consider what the street value of gold will be in Ecuador with its own gold mining operations (both legal and illegal) - CD's are only as stable as the banks (US or otherwise) that sell them. - A "safe" 5% return in a time of rapid inflation is a guaranteed loss. - US treasuries, obscure SEC rule change on basis trades will remove a huge liquidity pool. This will soon be published in the federal register and from there a 1 year clock starts ticking. This is huge and under the radar. It's has long been a question of when, not if. This is a solid indication of when. - Over 50% of securities trading is done "off market" in what's called Dark Pools. If one is day trading using exchange data they are only seeing half of the market. The half that lags behind the real market. - One of these "Dark Pools" which does $2 trillion a month in volume recently and conveniently suffered a hack that blocked shorting for days. - Possession is 9/10's of the law and that's in normal times. One lives in Ecuador but has most assets/accts in USA. Is that safe and secure? What happens if one is locked out of their US accounts? How long can they survive like that? Some things to ponder for those who put attention to being prepared, surviving and thriving in strange times. Honestly, as I prepare, I have found that being a US citizen presents the biggest risks to my future even when outside the US. I feel trapped like a rat on a sinking ship. The more I look into it, the more anxiety I feel and expatriation looks like too brutal an option to go through. My own government remains the single largest and most powerful hurdle to a safe, secure and healthy future. My risk management process literally spelled that out to me. Cartel issues? Yeah, it's on the list with earthquakes and landslides.

You lost me at trump.

I do not see parallels between Noboa and Trump. Noboa is extremely articulate, comes across as confident without seeming arrogant, and strikes me as a pragmatist rather than a populist.

​@@juicebox853yeah screw the anti war president, f that guy

Within a few months of taking Office....Trump flew a drone in Iraq and assasinated a High ranking General. Since that event....Trump negotiated with adversaries instead of going to war. The comparison IS that Naboa came out fully loaded and looks as though the Narcos got the message. He has set the stage as a man to be taken seriously. Now he Will have to show he can make deals instead of war with the current boycot by Russia of bananas and shrimp.

THE WORD IS SPELLED 'VECINO', NOT VACINO.

While i don’t try to use Miami Vice to understand the cartel wars, there is some truth to it. Yes, eventually things will stabilize into a situation where either the cartels win and prefer to use less violent methods as they become more professional, or the cartels lose and don’t have the power to carry out violent acts. Right now we are not in one of those more stable situations.

Somewhere down the road I believe Ecuador will get ahead, but it might be a long way off. Thanks.

@@FallofftheMap Question: doesnt the Noboa family have a huge $debt to EC govt? Would it help to pay that off ?

@@BPe-ie9je I hadn’t heard of them having a huge debt and would be surprised if it’s true. It’s possible but it’s more likely nonsense propaganda invented by the correistas.

@@FallofftheMap Thanks for feedback. Ahhhh, that makes sense. So far, impressed w Noboa. Appreciate you! Hugs to the family. Safe travels. Get that work done!!! 🙂

I hope you’re right.

You mean they'll fund the cartels and give them info, right? Instability in the region fits into the current administrations border policies

I am happy to talk with you to try to understand what issues you have with my opinions. I want to stress, these are my opinions, not what I know but what I think and suspect. I strive to be transparent. Yes, I have friends, sources, and contacts that I suspect may be intelligence community contractors. Their input and opinions helped inform and shape my opinions but only when and where it was supported by other evidence and facts.

KZfaqrs use shock value to keep clicks going. Nothing new and it helps to keep some cents coming in! Anyone can start their own KZfaq channel no matter how idiotic!

@amsterdambear610 you appear to be here just to troll. If you find something flawed about my opinions feel free to point out specifics, but making vague accusations and personal attacks doesn’t do anything to further your argument.

Free stuff and lawlessness? You’re talking about it the European settlers, right?

​@@FallofftheMap no about the illegal Hispanics,, Africans , etc. etc. whatever 100 something countries they come from. You see it all over Western countries now, uptick in crime and violence. And please don't use the argument they do jobs Americans don't. They have cost taxpayers much more.

Turn off your maga news sources. Your statement is ridiculous.

If I were an Ecuadorian making the same observations would you have had the same defensive reaction?

@@FallofftheMap Sorry if I didn't sound kind, but I think that idea is completely irrelevant, and the same can be said about almost any other country in the world. The drivers of Ecuadorian issues at the moment, are a combination of internal and specially external factors.

@@Santilasso318 there are absolutely places where the public has a higher level of political education and more long term way of thinking than both Ecuador and the U.S.

How is this negative opinions. This is his analysis of the situation.

REALITY OFTEN INSTILLS FEAR IN THOSE WHO DON'T WANT TO FACE IT. IT'S TIME TO FACE THE POSSIBILITIES AND PROBABILITIES.

I try to balance my opinions but I always share what I believe. I love Ecuador and don’t plan to leave but I also think we’re in for a longer fight than most people would like to believe and that the outcome will not be a win but more likely accepting a sort of truce and returning to a more peaceful Ecuador while acknowledging that the cartels are still here and thriving.

We each are entitled to our opinions.

@@FallofftheMap Thanks for all ..... have a safe trip . Get alot of work done. Your friend needs you.