The sweat-and-salsa-infused nightlife that was once the beating heart of Ecuador's largest city, Guayaquil, has fallen silent, with bars, restaurants, and nightclubs pulling down the shutters to avoid cartel-linked violence.
As Ecuador has become an epicenter of the global cocaine trade -- and the port city of Guayaquil a major thoroughfare -- cartels and mafias have chewed through the city's lively 'Zonas Rosas' -- nightlife hotspots.
