Ecuador: Back door to America

Peruvian national police on 21 January arrested nine Chinese nationals and the suspected leader of a Chinese human smuggling network. In possession of falsified Japanese passports, the illegal immigrants were on their way to the US. Police suspect they had begun the South American leg of their trip in Ecuador, where the requirement for entry visas from 130 countries was revoked on 20 June 2008.

Chinese organized crime is the first to take advantage of this open door to South America. Since the Ecuadorian government dropped visa requirements, authorities have registered a 500 percent increase in "Chinese tourism" from 2007 to 2008.

According to statistics from Ecuadorian police, some 2,875 Chinese tourists arrived in the country between January and June 2008. During the first three months after the removal of the visa restrictions, some 7,837 Chinese entered the country, shifting the daily entry average from 13 in 2007 to 78 by the end of 2008.

"The principal objective of these Chinese nationals is to travel to the United States, not to visit Ecuador," a Peruvian police investigator told reporters from Ecuadorian daily El Universo - just hours after news broke in November 2008 that 78 Chinese nationals were arrested for illegal immigration.

According to the El Universo article, Chinese organized crime networks may charge each individual up to US$70,000 for the trip from China to the US. Investigators suspect that the criminal network moves its "clients" from China to Spain, and from the Iberian Peninsula to Ecuador, where they wait and rest. From Quito or Guayaquil, many head to Peru, Colombia or Panama, eventually arriving in Mexico, where they are smuggled across the border into the US.

El Universo also reports that Chinese organized crime may have earned as much as US$750 million on smuggling Chinese nationals through Ecuador to the US in 2008. That number is sure to grow in 2009.

Ecuador's role as the staging area for this human smuggling network has all but replaced Colombia, which used to be considered South America's springboard for Chinese illegal immigrants who sought entry into the US. Colombia removed visa restrictions for Chinese nationals in 2007, but the government replaced the restrictions after four months. The sharp increase in Chinese entering the country alarmed police, and the government quickly concluded that its country was crawling with Chinese organized crime operators.

Despite the spike of Chinese tourism in Ecuador, the visa restrictions remain in place.

As in Colombia's case, the Ecuadorians removed visa restrictions to promote tourism and entrepreneurship in Ecuador. Tourists bring cash and often spend money in Ecuador's informal economic sector, such as street vendors and family-owned artisan souvenir shops. Restaurants, tour operators and others that fall within Ecuador's formal economy also benefit from increased tourism. And many of the benefactors of increased Chinese tourism already voted once for President Rafael Correa. They will likely do so again on 26 April, when he will run for president in a special election.

Correa has maintained a sharp focus on China, promoting the use of his country as a South American entry point for Chinese goods and people. There are regular flights between China and Guayaquil, where a Chinese consulate keeps regular hours. And Correa has overseen the careful process of developing a deep-water port in Manta, Ecuador - one a Chinese logistics company will likely operate.

Correa must certainly be aware of his country's attractiveness for Chinese organized crime, but there is little evidence that indicates he is willing to take measures to thwart it.

In Colombia, where illegal Chinese immigrants are still arrested on a regular basis, the national police have begun to complain that for each illegal immigrant arrested, the costs of repatriation is thousands of dollars. The same is likely true for Peru, as most if not all of the illegal Chinese immigrants arrested in both countries arrived first in Ecuador, without return tickets.

It is a one-way trip to the US. And many, it seems, make it. The US has the most to lose from Ecuador's decision to remove visa restrictions for a myriad of reasons that range from the relatively benign consumption of public goods and services to potential terrorist threats. The Chinese have taken advantage of this open door for now, but citizens from 130 countries around the world can fly to Ecuador and automatically receive a 90-day tourist visa.