Ecuador Loses $100 Million a Year to Fuel Theft, and It’s Getting Worse

A little-recognized consequence of soaring cocaine related lawlessness and bloodshed in the tiny South American country of Ecuador is a massive surge in hydrocarbon theft. This serious problem, long associated with Colombia, which is the world’s largest cocaine producer, arose because of the tremendous profits that can be earned from stealing gasoline and diesel. Rising fuel prices along with heightened lawlessness are driving ever-higher levels of hydrocarbon theft, which even government crackdowns appear incapable of stopping. Not long after the end of the 2020 COVID pandemic, Ecuador exploded in violence as criminal gangs clashed with each other and the authorities…