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The spiral of violence that lives Ecuador for several months it has had one of its most complex points this week with twenty attacks in three coastal provinces, which the Government considers to be a reprisal from the organized crime to his fight against drug trafficking.
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Despite this, the country once again took a tense break this Friday during the festive bridge that will last until Sunday and that started on Thursday, when there was also a violent riot in the Guayaquil Penitentiarywhich was suffocated with the intervention of 2,600 agents, between police and military.
STATE OF EXCEPTION IN THREE PROVINCES
The Ecuadorian president, the conservative Guillermo Lasso, decreed on Tuesday night a state of emergency in the coastal provinces of Guayas (in the southwest and whose capital is Guayaquil) and Esmeraldas (in the northwest and bordering Colombia).
Also this Friday he extended the exceptional measure to Santo Domingo de los Tsachilaswhere attacks and riots were also recorded.
Lasso did not hesitate to affirm that the situation is a terrorist response by organized crime to its fight against drug trafficking, especially due to the more than 180 tons of drugs seized so far this year.
Ecuador, which is not considered a drug producer, borders on two large producers such as Peru and Colombiaso according to experts in the field, it has become a kind of storage warehouse for drug trafficking to large consumer markets such as the United States and Europe.
The president, in addition, linked that retaliation of the violent groups to the action supposedly “opportunist” of certain opposition politicians who criticize his management, although he did not present further evidence of his suspicion.
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THE PRISON CRISIS JUMPED TO THE STREETS
Several analysts consider that the violence in the streets is related to the prison crisis that broke out in 2020 and that has seen with stupor the murder of more than 400 prisoners in frequent clashes between gangs of inmates vying for control of the prisons.
According to them, the prison crisis took to the streets as the bombings and shootings recorded earlier this week coincided with the operation to transfer more than 1,400 prisoners from the Guayaquil Penitentiary to other prisons.
Precisely, in Pavilion 2 of said prison, where the gang of the “chone killers”clashes between inmates and the security forces broke out on Thursday, with explosions and shootings, as if it were a war.
In addition to that band, there are the groups known as “Los Choneros”, “Los Lobos”, “Los Tiguerones” and “Los Lagartos”, among others.
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For the expert in penitentiary and public security issues, Caroline Andradethe situation of violence “has not changed” in the eighteen months that Lasso has been in power.
According to Andrade, the spiral of violence is also explained by an apparent “inaction” by the government to comply with the recommendations of national and international organizations.
He remembered that the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) It has already issued calls to prevent new massacres in prisons, such as the allocation of larger budgets, actions to reduce overcrowding and build a new social rehabilitation system.
However, Andrade said he is concerned that criminal gangs have also gained ground on the street, especially because they can seduce a sector of the population that lacks opportunities to get out of the economic crisis that overwhelms Ecuadorians.
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VIOLENCE HAS BEEN NORMALIZED
According to the expert, the local population seems to have normalized the violence and “survive in that illicit economy” created by criminal gangs.
From the State, he said, there has been no emphasis on social programs either and the generation of conditions for people to overcome the crisis that worsened with the covid-19 pandemic is not in sight.
“That inaction, that lack of decision-making” timely by the Government could even be considered as “suspicious” and even from “complicity”, Andrade referred when wondering if the rumors that warn of hidden deals between authorities and leaders of certain criminal gangs are true.
For her, the frequent states of exception that the Executive has decreed “they have not worked so far” and have only been applied “patch measures”.
Source: Elcomercio
I, Ronald Payne, am a journalist and author who dedicated his life to telling the stories that need to be said. I have over 7 years of experience as a reporter and editor, covering everything from politics to business to crime.
