- By Antoinette Radford
- BBC News
March 21, 2023 at 11:42 GMT
Updated 1 hour ago
Image source: Twitter/Policia Ecuador
Journalists across Ecuador have been attacked by explosive devices sent through the mail.
One of the moderators, Lenin Artieda, was injured when he opened the envelope in the middle of the editorial office.
He said the explosive device looked like a USB stick. He plugged it into his computer and it exploded.
The Ecuadorian Attorney General’s department confirmed that it opened a terrorism investigation into the letters on Monday.
The targeted news outlets were not named. However, the letters went to at least five different organizations across Ecuador.
The government has condemned the attacks and called freedom of expression “a right that must be respected”.
“Any attempt to intimidate journalism and freedom of expression is a heinous act that should be punished with the full rigor of the judiciary,” it said in a statement.
Interior Minister Juan Zapata said the devices were all sent from the same city. Three were sent to media outlets in Guayaquil and two to the capital, Quito.
While Mr. Artieda was injured by the device, others sent through the mail did not explode or were never opened.
Police conducted a controlled demolition of one of the devices sent to TC Television, prosecutors confirmed.
Ecuador’s head of forensic science said they contained “military” explosives.
Ecuador has seen an increase in violence, which President Guillermo Lasso said is due to competition between drug trafficking gangs for territory and control.
The Andean country, used as a cocaine smuggling route from neighboring Peru and Colombia, has seen a sharp rise in homicides and gang crime in recent months.
Guayaquil, Ecuador’s second largest city, where three of the explosive devices were sent, has seen dramatic levels of violence, including decapitated bodies hanging from footbridges and deadly prison riots between rival gangs.