More than 350,000 Ecuadorians have been deported from the United States between 2021 and May 2024.

Unlike in the 1990s, when Ecuadorians fleeing social and economic crises left by boat from the country’s coasts to Central America, reaching Guatemala and crossing the border into the United States, the current wave of migration in Ecuador is concentrated in five irregular or clandestine routes. All of them are dangerous, and some are even deadly. Most of these routes have arisen due to immigration restrictions imposed by the United States, according to William Murillo, president of the company 1800 Migrantes, which provides advice to migrants from Latin America.

“When visa restrictions were imposed on Mexico and Guatemala, Ecuadorian migration dropped by 75%, but that was temporary. What happened was that they gave the trafficking networks time to find new routes, and the following year, migration exploded with a growth of 450%,” said Murillo. He predicts that with the recent US measures to restrict the granting of asylum, “in the coming months, the number of Ecuadorian migrants will drop drastically,” but then new routes will emerge, and the numbers will increase again.

Safe and fast

The first route, touted as ‘safe and fast,’ departs from Ecuador by air to Panama and then to the Bahamas, where travelers finally travel in smaller vessels to Miami, United States. But for many, this was nothing more than a dream.

Coyotes offered Manuel Chimborazo and Rocío Tenezaca this option in exchange for $18,000. “This rate allowed them to reach the United States in less than six days, involving a flight from Guayaquil to the Bahamas, staying in a hotel, and a couple of days later, traveling by sea to the coast of Miami,” according to their testimony before the judge. They denounced the trafficker, Carlos Rudecindo, who did not keep his promise to take them to American soil.

The victims paid $5,000 as an advance for the trip. The money was supposed to be used to obtain passports and buy plane tickets. After handing over the money, “both traveled from Cañar to Guayaquil to fly to the Bahamas on Copa Airlines. When they arrived, the defendant contacted the victims’ relatives to ask for an additional $5,800 each, handed over in Cañar in the presence of witnesses.”

Once in the Bahamas, the coyote asked them for $1,200 more each for lodging and $150 a week for food during the two months and 26 days they were confined in a house. Then, the trafficker demanded $10,000 to take them to the United States. “But, after receiving the money, he abandoned them, and they were detained by immigration and returned to Ecuador.”

Five of the fifteen migrants reported missing by their relatives in 2021 disappeared on this route. The Action Plan against Illicit Trafficking of Migrants 2024-2030, prepared by the Ministry of the Interior, indicates that the cost of this route ranges between $18,000 and $20,000.

Over land

The second route, mostly by land, can cost less than $15,000. The trip begins in Guayaquil, continuing by land to Tulcán and cities in Colombia such as Ipiales, Cali, Medellín, and Necoclí until reaching Nicaragua, where local coyotes handle the rest of the trip to Mexico and the United States.

Rodrigo Naula began this journey after agreeing to pay a coyote $11,000. “They were to be paid in installments: $3,500 when the traveler arrived in Guatemala, the same amount upon arrival in Mexico, and the remaining amount upon reaching the United States,” according to the Prosecutor’s Office. Rodrigo arrived in Colombia by land, boarded a plane to Honduras, and then traveled by land to Guatemala. “He contacted his mother to send $3,500. When he reached Mexico, they deposited another $3,500. But at the border, he was intercepted by immigration authorities and deported, never reaching the United States.”

The dangerous jungle

The third route, through the Darién jungle in Panama, is the most dangerous. Seven of the ten migrants reported missing by their relatives in 2022 have disappeared there, along with five of the twelve disappearances recorded until October 2023, according to a Ministry of the Interior report. The route includes Colombian towns such as Urabá and Necoclí and by boat through the Gulf of Urabá to Acandí, then to Capurganá, the last town before entering the dangerous Darién jungle.

“This step is one of the most dangerous due to the mafias that operate there, such as the Tren de Aragua and the Clan del Golfo. Within Darién, the route goes through Carreto-Lajas-Blancas-Metetí and then to Panama,” the government migration report stresses.

The Darién jungle saw an increase in migrants between 2022-2023, from 248,284 to 348,857 travelers. “Most come from Venezuela, Ecuador, Haiti, China, and Colombia, with 77,835 being minors.”

Ecuadorian Luis, 17, arrived in Capurganá by land, rested in a hostel, and continued by boat to Puerto Obaldía, a town on the border with Panama. Another boat was to take him to another Panamanian town, where he planned to fly to Mexico. However, the coyote’s assistant warned him he wouldn’t go through immigration control because he was a minor, making Luis reconsider his route. “Why don’t you take us through the jungle (of Darién)?” he asked, but the answer frightened him: “A lot of people die there.” He returned to Ecuador, and his family reported the coyote, who had been paid $14,000 for the trip, for illegal migrant trafficking. The coyote was sentenced to ten years in prison in 2018 but is now a fugitive.

Diana Carolina T., 17, set out on the Darién route with five others on March 20, 2024. “Alias el Doctor told us he would charge $2,500 per person for the trip and that it was guaranteed,” said Luis Ernesto G., one of the migrants. Another migrant, Adela Liliana O., Luis Ernesto’s girlfriend, said the coyote assured them the trip was safe. “He told me they always go through the Darién jungle by canoe. We agreed, but at the Rumichaca bridge, Immigration detained us,” she recounted.

Thru Central America

The fourth route was taken by Maria, who left El Tambo (Cañar) to move to Guayaquil, where she flew to Panama. From there, the journey continued by land through Central America to Mexico, then through several cities and the desert to the US border. The coyote, who charged $14,000, picked her up in a taxi in her city on October 10, 2017. The next day she flew from Guayaquil to Panama. She stayed in a hostel for one night and then began a long journey by bus through towns in Costa Rica and Nicaragua.

She stayed in Nicaragua for three days, then traveled to the border with Honduras, continuing north through San Pedro Sula to Guatemala. Her group stayed in the capital for six days before moving on to San Pedro Soloma, a town on the border with Mexico. After a few more days, they reached Gracia De Dios in Mexico, where they stayed for two days before being hidden in a house for three days. The journey continued by van for three days, then through Puebla, Mexico City, Santa Ana to Ciudad Juárez, where they were hidden in a warehouse for twelve days.

“They took us to an area called Cruz Blanca, left us in a desert, and told us how to cross the border. We walked at night and were caught by immigration at dawn,” Maria said. She was detained for months until deported on March 17, 2018. She reported the coyote for migrant smuggling, but he was declared innocent in 2023 after the prosecutor declined to charge him, citing her absence at the trial.

Thru the air to Arizona

The fifth route, primarily by air, includes Ecuador-Colombia-Honduras-Guatemala, then by land to Mexico and through the Arizona desert to the United States. A group of four from Cañar – two men and two women – chose this route in late July 2022. Only the women reached the US; one man is missing, and another died. The women sought help from the US Border Patrol in the Arizona desert.

“They left Ambato and crossed the Ecuador-Colombia border to Pasto, then flew to Cali, Panama, Nicaragua, and Mexico with the final destination being the United States,” explained the prosecutor, who secured a 22-year prison sentence for the coyote who transported them.

The coyote Jonathan Fabián J. was sentenced in 2019 for transferring a 28-year-old man from Cuenca to North America for $10,900. He traveled by car from Cuenca to Tulcán, then flew from Colombia to Honduras. Upon arriving in Honduras, he traveled by land for several days to Mexican towns. “At the Mexico-US border, he was detained and deported to Ecuador,” says the Prosecutor’s Office. The accusation is supported by evidence, including migratory movements and deposit certificates.

In the search for the ‘American dream,’ new routes emerge daily, many irregular, clandestine, dangerous, and deadly. “The routes change, but some are established, like the Darién route, Panama, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Mexico, and Guatemala. Many aim for Mexico or the Bahamas to reach Florida. Main points include Ecuador, El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, Mexico. Minors sometimes leave through Peru due to easier exit permits and border bribery,” revealed William Murillo from 1800 Migrantes.

According to Murillo, the route through El Salvador is increasingly important. “We see many Ecuadorians leaving through El Salvador. I dare say that the next country to require visas from Ecuadorians will be El Salvador.”