Drug traffickers fleeing, prison riots, police kidnappings, explosions, gunmen breaking into live television broadcasts: for the umpteenth time, Ecuador is confronted with a large-scale explosion of violence. The first official number is 8 deaths, but the number of victims could be much higher. Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa announced that he had declared a state of emergency for the entire country. Ecuador has been struggling with insecurity and widespread violence for years, but the news of the last few hours suggests a much more serious crisis. The United States has expressed concern and the Pentagon has offered its willingness to provide “assistance” in dealing with the situation.
The first red flag was the escape from a prison in Guayaquil of the leader of the country's largest drug trafficking gang: Adolfo Macias, considered enemy number one by authorities. Macías, known as “Fito,” leader of Los Choneros, had been serving a 34-year prison sentence since 2011 for organized crime, drug trafficking and murder. Jose Serrano, former Interior Minister, announced that Fito fled on December 25 during a medical examination. Since then, around three thousand agents have been on his trail.
But in recent days the situation has worsened. There were explosions in some cities, riots broke out in at least six prisons and scores of police officers were kidnapped in the line of duty: three in the coastal town of Machala, a fourth in the capital Quito. There was chaos in the streets with soldiers on the streets while looting of shopping centers multiplied. Some filmed gunmen shooting at police cars and burning several cars on the street. Appeals to stay at home are increasing and there are reports of criminal gangs trying to raid universities to take hostages. It is difficult to verify the reports, also because the authorities have denied some of the news that has circulated in the last few hours. But the pictures speak for themselves: chaos is progressing in the country.
In the afternoon, an eloquent and tragic scene went around the world: some armed men broke into the studio of a live public broadcaster in the city of Guayaquil, the epicenter of violence for months. The men took several journalists and technicians hostage. The live images show some phases of the attack, with the sound of gunfire, the shouts of technicians and journalists asking not to be attacked, while hooded men armed with grenades and machine guns take them hostage and give them the threaten death. “Please, you came to kill us. God, don't let this happen. “The criminals are on air,” one of the journalists told AFP in a WhatsApp message. After half an hour of panic, the lights in the studio went out and all we could hear was the arrival of the special police forces. According to the latest information, the agents managed to free the hostages and arrest 13 attackers. But the violence in the country continues.
Following the developments of the last few hours, President Noboa has issued a presidential decree recognizing “the existence of an internal armed conflict” and “ordering the mobilization and intervention of the armed forces and the national police to guarantee sovereignty and national integrity”. against organized crime, terrorist organizations and non-state warring parties.” Noboa declared that an “internal armed conflict” was underway and ordered the “neutralization” of criminal groups involved in drug trafficking. A night curfew was imposed in the country between 11 p.m. and 5 a.m. local time.
Noboa, son of one of the country's richest men and a former lawmaker, has been in office since November: He has committed himself to fighting crime and promoting the economic recovery of the country, which has long been in the grip of crisis. Due to its strategic location between Colombia and Peru, the world's two largest cocaine producers, Ecuador is plagued by the scourge of drug trafficking and is besieged by very powerful criminal cartels that authorities have so far been unable to eliminate.