Ecuador on fire faces the terror of drug trafficking for the third day

Ecuador This Wednesday, for the third day, it faces terror from criminal gangs and drug traffickers, which has left at least 10 dead since Monday, more than a hundred police officers and prison staff detained by prisoners, attacks on journalists and countless attacks armed.

Hundreds of soldiers guard the deserted streets around the presidential headquarters in the center of Quitowhile in the north the park Carolinathe largest in the city of Casl three million inhabitantsit was empty, without its usual athletes.

READ TOO: 3 keys that explain the “internal armed conflict” declared in Ecuador after several days of violence

Few cars circulate on the capital’s avenues and Guayaquil (southwest), where warehouses and neighborhood stores remain closed.

“I’m afraid, I have to be careful, looking here, there, if I take this bus, what will happen?“, a 68-year-old woman told AFP, who did not want to reveal her identity and that “scared”went to work in an office of North of Quito.

The offensive of criminal organizations, linked to cartels Mexico It is Colombia, included on Tuesday an unusual and spectacular outburst recorded live and live. Men armed with rifles and grenades took over a public television channel during the news of at noon, they threatened journalists and shot two workers. There were no deaths and several attackers were arrested.

The attack on Guayaquil to headquarters of channel TC Television Panic increased among the population, who quickly left the streets to take refuge in their homes.

TO KNOW MORE: Ecuador: Army detains two “terrorists” with weapons and ammunition in the border area with Peru

“Internal armed conflict”

Due to its strategic location, Guayaquil has become an epicenter in recent years of drug trafficking to the United States and Europe.

Faced with the new wave of violence, the president Daniel Noboa36, declared on Tuesday Ecuador in “internal armed conflict”, after ordering a state of emergency on Monday.

He horror was imposed after the escape of Adolfo Maciasalias “Fito”, leader of the main criminal gang of country known as The Choneroswho was being held in a Guayaquil prison and was detected on Sunday.

Hundreds of soldiers and police are searching for Fito, while a state of emergency is in force across the country, including arrests, and a six-hour curfew, starting at 11pm local time (0400 GMT).

On Tuesday, another crime boss escaped from prison, Fabricio Colón Pico, one of the bosses of Los Lobos, accused of kidnapping and planning the murder of the attorney general.

Prisoners revolted in different prisons and detained more than a hundred prison guards.

Unverified videos circulating on social media show alleged hostages being threatened with knives and the alleged execution of for the At least two guards, one shot and the other hanged.

LOOK HERE: Ecuador: the uncertainty of travelers upon arriving in desolate Guayaquil after a bloody and violent day

International concern

Brazil, Colombia, Chile, Venezuela, Dominican Republic, United States, Spain and European Union They rejected violence. France and Russia have warned their citizens not to travel to Ecuador It is Peru declared its entire border with Ecuador.

Located between Colombia and Peru, the largest cocaine producers, Ecuador It was a safe country for many years of narco, but in recent times it has become a new stronghold of traffic medicine with around twenty gangs fighting for control of territory, but united in the war against the State.

2023 closed with more than 7,800 homicides and 220 tons of medicine seized, new records in the country of 17 million inhabitants.

Noboa has arrived for the power in November as the youngest president in the country’s history with the promise to face it with an iron fist for the drug trafficker He was elected for 18 months to complete his predecessor’s four-year term. Guilherme Lasso.

His “internal armed conflict” decree granted belligerent status to gangs and allowed them to for the the government takes measures to address them.

But the shootings, kidnappings, extortion, prison escapes and riots the prisoners do not give in.

Fito was serving a 34-year sentence in the Regional Prison of Guayaquil for organized crime, drug trafficking and murder.

His obese figure with messy hair turned for the world after the murder in August of Presidential candidate Fernando Villavicenciowho had reported him days before for threats.

It is the second time that the crime boss has escaped from prison. In 2013, together with other prisoners, he managed to escape the controls of the maximum security prison known as The rockin Guayaquil. He was recaptured after three months.

Source: Elcomercio

jack

I am Jack Morton and I work in 24 News Recorder. I mostly cover world news and I have also authored 24 news recorder. I find this work highly interesting and it allows me to keep up with current events happening around the world.