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Why is there violence in Ecuador?

International drug cartels are using banana shipments to smuggle out cocaine.

Ecuador used to have one of the lowest annual murder rates in Latin America. But this year there’s been 3500 murders so far and in the midst presidential elections one of the candidates - Fernando Villavicencio - was shot and killed after a campaign event.

Hannah is joined by Ana Maria Roura, a ±«Óătv Mundo reporter who was born in Ecuador, to get an explanation on what led to the country’s increasing violence. And what’s being done to stop it?

Also, the ±«Óătv’s Ece Goksedef tells us about the French government’s decision to ban the abaya in state schools, and explains how it links to the country’s history of secularism.

Email: whatintheworld@bbc.co.uk
WhatsApp: +44 0330 12 33 22 6
Presenter: Hannah Gelbart
Producers: Emily Horler, Benita Barden, Alex Rhodes and Julia Ross-Roy
Researcher: Dan Eboka
Editors: Verity Wilde and Rachael Akidi Okwir

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15 minutes

Podcast