Ecuador: Victims of violent cartels tell BBC they now hide from US authorities

Donald Trump declared some cartels to be terrorist organisations. So why are the victims of cartels in hiding?

Watch LiveBritish Broadcasting CorporationHomeNewsSportBusinessInnovationCultureArtsTravelEarthAudioVideoLiveHomeNewsIsrael-Gaza WarWar in UkraineUS & CanadaUKUK PoliticsEnglandN. IrelandN. Ireland PoliticsScotlandScotland PoliticsWalesWales PoliticsAfricaAsiaChinaIndiaAustraliaEuropeLatin AmericaMiddle EastIn PicturesBBC InDepthBBC VerifySportBusinessExecutive LoungeTechnology of BusinessFuture of BusinessInnovationTechnologyScience & HealthArtificial IntelligenceAI v the MindCultureFilm & TVMusicArt & DesignStyleBooksEntertainment NewsArtsArts in MotionTravelDestinationsAfricaAntarcticaAsiaAustralia and PacificCaribbean & BermudaCentral AmericaEuropeMiddle EastNorth AmericaSouth AmericaWorld’s TableCulture & ExperiencesAdventuresThe SpeciaListEarthNatural WondersWeather & ScienceClimate SolutionsSustainable BusinessGreen LivingAudioPodcast CategoriesRadioAudio FAQsVideoLiveLive NewsLive SportHomeNewsSportBusinessInnovationCultureArtsTravelEarthAudioVideoLiveWeatherNewslettersWatch LiveA cut-off finger ended her comfortable family life. Now she's hiding from US officials4 days agoShareSaveIone WellsBBC News in EcuadorShareSaveSubmitted PhotoGabriela's trip to the US with her daughter became her escape (face of her daughter blurred)She had promised her daughter a trip to Disney World in Florida - but what had originally been planned as a holiday became an escape route from "terror".

Gabriela, not her real name, is from Guayaquil, Ecuador, where she led what she calls a "normal middle-class life": she worked at a television channel for 15 years, she had a mortgage and her daughter attended private school.

When she read headlines about violence rising in Ecuador - gangs battling over cocaine trafficking routes, homicides soaring, and extortions spreading - she assumed the extortions were aimed at "millionaires".

Then came the first threat: a phone call warning her to pay a gang or be shot. The caller knew her workplace and her licence plate.

Around the time of their planned Disney World holiday, her daughter's grandfather was kidnapped.