Los Lobos, a narco-trafficking gang affiliated with Mexico's notorious Jalisco New Generation cartel, has infiltrated illegal gold mining in Ecuador. Their activities have reached remote areas, including Podocarpus National Park, where they extort miners and dominate almost all stages of the gold supply chain. Each miner is forced to pay an extortion fee of up to $1,000 every month to the gang, leading to violent clashes in instances of non-compliance, with several local officials opposed to illegal mining being attacked or even murdered. As criminal organisations in the region who have traditionally focused on drug trafficking expand into other criminal activities, the rising value of gold on international markets and the ease of laundering profits from the cocaine trade have made gold mining increasingly attractive to them.