People who crave cocaine rarely consider who really pays for it
The Guardian Weekly|February 16, 2024
What happened in Ecuador a few weeks ago, when the country descended into gang violence and TV journalists were seen by millions cowering in front of people pointing high-powered weapons W at their heads, was described in many ways.
Roberto Saviano
People who crave cocaine rarely consider who really pays for it

With the benefit of hindsight, though, it can be defined as a "drug coup". It had never happened in this form, on this scale, anywhere else. It was not comparable to the uprisings that came before. It did not resemble Gen Augusto Pinochet's coup in Chile in 1973, and it had nothing to do with the rule of the Argentine colonels or the coup in Venezuela in 1992, because it did not aim to take power, or to occupy the government with ministers, or to replace formal control. The only goals of the drug-trafficking cartels are to force political and economic power to negotiate, to obtain impunity, to have room for manoeuvre to defend their own affairs and, ultimately, to remind politicians of any orientation that their legitimation is possible only by consent of the cartels.

Esta historia es de la edición February 16, 2024 de The Guardian Weekly.

Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.

Esta historia es de la edición February 16, 2024 de The Guardian Weekly.

Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.

MÁS HISTORIAS DE THE GUARDIAN WEEKLYVer todo
Out of touch How president sealed his own fate in martial law gambit
The Guardian Weekly

Out of touch How president sealed his own fate in martial law gambit

For Yoon Suk Yeol, this month's short-lived martial law declaration wasn't just a catastrophic miscalculation - it was the culmination of a presidency that had been troubled from the start.

time-read
2 minutos  |
December 20, 2024
Son of the soil Who is François Bayrou, the farmer turned prime minister?
The Guardian Weekly

Son of the soil Who is François Bayrou, the farmer turned prime minister?

François Bayrou, the new French prime minister, calls himself a country man. A tractor-driving \"son of the soil\" and breeder of thoroughbreds, he has run for president three times, saying his rural roots and centrist politics led him to try to find common ground between left and right.

time-read
2 minutos  |
December 20, 2024
Power plant workers keeping the lights on
The Guardian Weekly

Power plant workers keeping the lights on

The Guardian Weekly visits a Soviet-era coal-fired thermal installation to learn how it has held up to Russian attacks

time-read
3 minutos  |
December 20, 2024
Prince charmed Alleged spy scandal may have exposed China threat
The Guardian Weekly

Prince charmed Alleged spy scandal may have exposed China threat

Prince Andrew should be commended for doing Britain a great service, according to longstanding China watcher Charles Parton. The now marginalised royal has, the analyst observed, \"almost single handedly\" succeeded \"in highlighting the threat to free and open countries\" posed by the contemporary Chinese state.

time-read
2 minutos  |
December 20, 2024
In Moscow, a new life of secluded irrelevance awaits Assad
The Guardian Weekly

In Moscow, a new life of secluded irrelevance awaits Assad

He was whisked away without a last message to his people, the aircraft's transponder deliberately switched off to avoid detection as it departed from an airbase in Syria.

time-read
3 minutos  |
December 20, 2024
'We fear new oppression' Alawites worry over rebel rule
The Guardian Weekly

'We fear new oppression' Alawites worry over rebel rule

To prepare khubeiza, the leaves of the kale-like plant must be roughly chopped and sauteed with onions, garlic and a dash of salt. According to folklore, the recipe originated among the Alawite communities who lived in Syria's mountainous coastline where the fibrous, wild-growing plant can be found in abundance. So poor were the Alawites in Ottoman times, the story goes, that the only food they could find to eat was khubeiza, which sprouts like a stubborn weed every spring.

time-read
3 minutos  |
December 20, 2024
'Gisèle is waiting for explanations'
The Guardian Weekly

'Gisèle is waiting for explanations'

The Pelicot rape trial has horrified the world. But as it comes to an end, the questions it has raised about French society and rape culture have still not been answered.

time-read
10 minutos  |
December 20, 2024
FROM DOCTOR TO BRUTAL DICTATOR THE RISE AND FALL OF ASSAD
The Guardian Weekly

FROM DOCTOR TO BRUTAL DICTATOR THE RISE AND FALL OF ASSAD

0N THE FACE OF IT AT LEAST, the Bashar al-Assad of 2002 presented a starkly different figure from the brutal autocrat he would become, presiding over a fragile state founded on torture, imprisonment and industrial murder.

time-read
5 minutos  |
December 13, 2024
What fresh alternatives can be used to placate coriander haters?
The Guardian Weekly

What fresh alternatives can be used to placate coriander haters?

Everyone knows a hater of coriander - also known as cilantro - who won't go near the stuff. Itamar Srulovich, however, is not one: \"I adore fresh coriander, and always have,\" says the chef/co-owner of the Honey & Co group in London.

time-read
2 minutos  |
December 13, 2024
Farage is lying in wait.Britain cannot afford to see Starmer fail Jonathan Freedland
The Guardian Weekly

Farage is lying in wait.Britain cannot afford to see Starmer fail Jonathan Freedland

This government must not fail. Let's get that clear from the start. If Keir Starmer does not succeed, too many British voters will conclude that both the traditional parties, Labour and Conservative, have proved useless and that it is time to try something else with that something else being nationalist populism.

time-read
3 minutos  |
December 13, 2024