Javier’s Unfinished Story

Shortly before going to the dangerous border area between Ecuador and Colombia for the last time, the journalist Javier Ortega was informed about the existence of a secret communication channel between the Ecuadorian police and the drug cartels. He would never be able to write about this subject.

Keeping Silent to Stay Alive: Living Along the Mataje River

Located in one of the regions that have the world’s highest number of coca fields, the Mataje River between Ecuador and Colombia is one of the main routes used for drug transportation to the north. On this natural axis, surrounded by luxurious plants and greenery, are hidden drug-processing laboratories and stockpiles of weapons. Abandoned by the Colombian and Ecuadorian governments, the population that lives here is trapped in the dynamics of drug-trafficking. A single code controls their life: silence.

Militarization of the border, an ineffective measure

On both sides of the border between Ecuador and Colombia, a battle is underway against criminal organizations linked to drug trafficking. The increase in military personnel decreed by the two governments is the largest of any border area in South America, and significantly affects the daily lives of rural communities on both sides.

Three Lives Lost, Many Questions Still Unanswered

The kidnapping and murder of the journalists from the daily newspaper El Comercio, as well as the negotiations led by governments for their release, are still the subject of contradictions, gaps, and questions without answers.