Ecuador LIVE | Last minute of violence and internal armed conflict in the country

This Wednesday, Ecuador faces terror from criminal gangs and drug traffickers for the third day, which has left at least 10 people 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 Quito, while to the north La Carolina park, the largest in the city of almost three million inhabitants, was empty, without its usual athletes. Few cars circulate on the avenues of the capital and Guayaquil (southwest), where warehouses and neighborhood stores remain closed.

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“There is fear, we have to be careful, look one way or another, if I take this bus, what will happen”, said a 68-year-old woman, who did not want to reveal her identity and who was “terrified”, said told AFP that he went to work in an office in the north of Quito.

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

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

“Internal armed conflict”

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

Faced with the new wave of violence, President Daniel Noboa, 36 years old, declared on Tuesday Ecuador in “internal armed conflict”, after ordering a state of emergency on Monday.

Terror prevailed after the escape of Adolfo Macías, alias “Fito”, leader of the country’s main criminal gang known as Los Choneros, who was being held in a prison in Guayaquil 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 at least two guards, one shot and the other hanged.

International concern

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

Located between Colombia and Peru, the largest cocaine producers, Ecuador For many years it was a country safe from drug trafficking, but in recent times it has transformed into a new bastion of drug trafficking with around twenty gangs fighting for control of the territory, but united in their war against the State.

The year 2023 ended with more than 7,800 homicides and 220 tons of drugs seized, new records in the country of 17 million inhabitants.

Noboa came to power in November as the youngest president in the country’s history, promising to tackle drug trafficking with a strong hand. He was elected for 18 months to complete the four-year term of his predecessor Guillermo Lasso.

His “internal armed conflict” decree granted belligerent status to gangs and allows the government to take measures to confront them.

But the shootings, kidnappings, extortion, prison escapes and prison riots do not stop.

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

His obese figure with messy hair went around the world after the assassination, in August, of presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio, who had denounced him days earlier for threats.

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

Source: Elcomercio

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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.