If a couple of years ago some immigrant from the immense Ecuadorian diaspora In New York he wanted to go to his country to celebrate the Christmas and New Year holidays with his family, he had to book his flights many months in advance. In this 2023, Even until December 21, some airlines had seats available for destinations such as Quito, Guayaquil and Cuenca.
“Obviously they are very expensive tickets, but they are obtainable. A couple of years ago it was even a joke that you tried to plan a trip to Ecuador, from here, already entering the month of December. Everything was reserved. Even with waiting lists”, commented a Queens travel agent.
In fact, in the variety of digital platforms to buy tickets online, until this week it was not difficult to get a place at this destination, from the airports in the Big Apple and New Jersey.
The reason for this decrease in the Christmas trips of this community seems to be evident: The Ecuadorian Organized Crime Observatory confirms that Ecuador closes 2023 being the third country with the most murders in the Western Hemisphere and the most violent in Latin America. In this way surpassing a place that Venezuela occupied for many years.
The anecdotes of immigrants who have traveled recently and bring stories of extortion, assaults, and express kidnappings, who have also starred as victims, continue to spread like wildfire in the neighborhoods of Jackson Heights and Corona.
Therefore, many as the merchant Manuel Manyes preferred to postpone again a flight scheduled for many months, because the news about the insecurity caused by drug trafficking mafias, They do not stop running and frightening their fellow citizens.
“It’s something general. Whoever I talk to has a different story about what happened to them in the country. We have a new government. There is a change of President, but the results are impossible to see soon. Perhaps it will take years to feel like a safe country again. I always traveled at Christmas. Now you can’t,” she shared.
On the streets of Corona and Jackson Heights, many comment that they prefer to wait for times of less violence to be able to return to visit their native Ecuador. (Photo: F. Martínez)
“Your relatives scare you”
The “fear” that Manuel expresses is recurrent. For many Ecuadorian families rooted in the Big Apple for decades, The hard work of the entire year was “crowned” with an Easter in their land. Especially for those who They waited a long time to regularize their immigration status so they could return.
Such is the testimony of the construction worker, Miguel Pazmiño, 45 years old, who today remembers that 18 years passed without being able to return to his native Pedernales. You now have your green card. You have the resources to buy your ticket. And an enormous desire to live the Christmas traditions in his town, but the winds of bloody violence forced him to put his wish on a “waiting list.”
“You work hard in the hope of returning and celebrating Christmas with your family, away from the cold. I finally achieved it in 2019, before the pandemic. Now that I could return, I prefer to stay here. Even your own family members scare you.”Miguel said.
This year that is ending was one of great shock for the Ecuadorian diaspora, which saw how in just months they assassinated high-profile figures, such as a sitting mayor and a presidential candidate. In parallel, hundreds of deaths are usually counted every day.
Furthermore, recent reports of robberies and kidnappings of people who traveled from New York are very recurrent.
In this sense, the founder of the International Ecuadorian Alliance of New York, Walter Sinche, derived from daily conversations with his countrymen, he concludes that fear is the common denominator for already settled communities, which were accustomed to go for festivities like Christmas or Carnival. But lately they have returned with “nightmare” experiences, stories and incidents.
“Just to give you an example. Just a few days charity organizations went to deliver some toys and ended up stolen. People who travel are doing so with a very low profile, without publishing anything on the networks. It is dangerous for you to show that you live in the United States. That’s enough there to make you a victim of organized crime.“he explained.
On the other hand, the opinion of the Quito immigrant, Luis Duraznowho has lived in Corona for 10 years, is that many of his fellow citizens They travel offering many details on social networks before their arrival. At their discretion, the mafias monitor these movements.
“Please! You cannot make such negative propaganda that you cannot travel to my country. You simply have to do it without appearing, without attracting attention, like any tourist. I know there are problems. That there are many mafias. But the important thing is to do it at this moment, without attracting attention. You can’t stop visiting the family we left behind“, he concluded.
“I send my gifts”
Although work in travel agencies due to the expansion of the digital business has been reduced to a minimum in New York City, those who began to have significantly “more workload” this season were the package delivery and remittance companies, which cross the streets of Roosevelt Avenuein Queens, one of the nerve centers of the Latin American immigration in the Big Apple.
“Since I can’t travel, I send gifts to my parents by load. They told me they wouldn’t arrive in time for Christmas, but hey, it’s on its way. It will arrive in January. “They told me that my boxes arrive in twelve business days,” he commented. the young José Castillo, who had just left the shipping company TransEcuacarga Express, one of the many that offers parcel shipping services. And in these weeks, they have been more in demand than ever.
José like many young people, He came fleeing the Los Ríos region a year ago. He is living, as he himself says, a process of “hard work and many complications,” although grateful to be in a place with more opportunities that “took him away from the gangs.”
And the year that ends also shows another statistic: The highest number of Ecuadorians found or detained at the border since 2020, in contrast, represents an increase of 371% compared to the 2022 period.
After Venezuelans who occupy 40% of the Spanish-speaking group of newcomers to the Big Apple, in the midst of the migration crisis which broke out in the spring of 2022in second place There are families and single men from Ecuador.
Finally, The wave of violence that plagues the Latin American country largely explains the immigration and humanitarian crisis facing New Yorkwith the arrival of more than 150,000 people in the last 18 months, and also the discouragement of Ecuadorians already legally and economically stable in the United States, for whom Going on vacation is not a safe option.
In parallel, many of the Venezuelans who have arrived in recent months asking for shelter in New York, They are ‘re-immigrants’ from Ecuador. For 10 years, that Andean nation, currently burdened by the crime of drug cartels, had been the recipient of thousands of Venezuelans, of whom approximately 110,000 abandoned it in 2023. Many of them then made their way to the United States.
The numbers of “fear”:
- 7,528 murders were perpetrated in Ecuador between January 1 and December 5 of this 2023, many of which according to official sources are produced by the dispute between organized crime gangs linked to drug trafficking from Colombia, Mexico and Venezuela.
- 42.8 per 100,000 inhabitants was the homicide rate in Ecuador until September, while that of Venezuela was more than 40.8, followed by Honduras, with 35.1.
- 60% was the increase in violent deaths this year which ends with respect to the year 2022. In round numbers, 2,600 more murders were officially confirmed.
- 23 and 24 deaths per day and every hour one person lost their life due to violenceaccording to figures from the National Police and the Ministry of the Interior of Ecuador.
2023-12-25 10:01:00
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