The Whole Story with Anderson Cooper (2023- )

CNN Senior National Correspondent David Culver returns with an immersive dispatch from inside the brutal cocaine trafficking system which has made Ecuador the deadliest country in Latin America. 

Since 2018, Ecuador's homicide rate has surged by 580%, with 2025 on track to be Ecuador's deadliest year on record. With roughly 70% of the world's cocaine moving through Ecuador, gangs are at war for control of an underground global economy worth tens of billions of dollars a year. In "Ecuador: The Narco Superhighway," Culver goes deep inside a system that pulls in the poor, empowers the brutal and protects the powerful, all to indulge the habit of a global addiction with local Ecuadorians caught in the undertow.

"We spent more than two weeks in fishing villages, border towns, major cities and ports… places where the violence isn't just a headline, it's part of daily life. We met grieving families, fishermen pulled into the trade, even gang members who claim they had no other option but to commit horrific acts, which they openly admit to," said Culver. "This isn't just a story about drugs. It's about how power, poverty, and global demand collide in Ecuador."

From coastal villages and jungle borderlands to banana plantations and bustling ports, and even to the Galapagos islands, Culver follows the chain of smuggling, extortion and violence. He rides along with Ecuador's navy as they train to chase down drug runners off the vast Pacific coast and speaks with a high-ranking gang commander reflecting on the impact of his trade on his community.