RODRIGO BUENDIA / AFP
Following the declaration of the state of emergency on January 8, 2024, the army is authorized to operate in all streets and prisons in Ecuador
PRISON – Like a feeling of panic. In Ecuador, this Monday, January 8, a state of emergency was declared by President Daniel Noboa after public enemy number 1, Adolfo Macias, alias “Fito”, leader of the “Choneros”, escaped from prison in Guayaquil (Southwest). . . According to experts, this roughly 8,000-strong criminal gang, the largest in the country, has become the main player in the flourishing drug trade in Ecuador.
Daniel Noboa declared a state of emergency across the country, including in prisons, for 60 days, with a curfew between 11pm and 5am local time (4am and 10am GMT). The army is therefore authorized to operate in all streets and prisons in the country.
Following these announcements, prison riots broke out and police reported violence in the gang-controlled Esmeraldas province (northwest). Individuals threw an explosive device near a police station and two vehicles were set on fire without causing any injuries.
The army authorized intervention
At least four police officers were kidnapped on the night of Monday to Tuesday, including three who were on duty in the coastal town of Machala (southwest). The fourth police officer was kidnapped in the capital Quito by three people in “a vehicle with tinted windows and no license plate.”
Images posted on social media that could not be verified also showed guards being held down by hooded men with knives and implored the government to “proceed with caution” and “not send troops into prisons.”
Videos later released by the armed forces showed prisoners lying in prison yards with their hands on their heads. The prison administration (SNAI) stated that no one was injured in these “incidents”.
In Quito, police reported a car explosion in the south of the city and a device under a pedestrian bridge. Heavily armed police and soldiers entered several prisons in the country, including those where guards were sequestered.
Prisons are the scene of recurring massacres between rival gangs. Since February 2021, there have been at least a dozen massacres in which more than 460 prisoners died.
Fito, a regular on the run
For its part, the Attorney General's Office filed charges against two prison officials “involved in the escape” of Adolfo Macias. On Sunday, the police chief admitted to the press that he was “not found where he should have been,” a high-security cell in the port city's prison.
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Adolfo Macias, alias “Fito”, leader of the “Choneros”, photographed here during a prison transfer on August 12, 2023
“Fito,” who is known to be very charismatic and has a large beard, studied law in prison until he qualified as a lawyer. Recently, a song sung by a Mexican group to his fame was broadcast on social networks with a video clip and images filmed in his cell.
His name has made headlines in recent months after one of the main candidates in the presidential election was assassinated in early August. Adolfo Macias fled while serving a 34-year prison sentence since 2011 for organized crime, drug trafficking and murder. He had already escaped from a high-security prison with other prisoners in 2013 and was caught again three months later.
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