First Corporal William, a strong and silent boy, like the men of another time, carries a Heckler & Koch rifle on his shoulder. He knows that at the slightest opportunity one must “kill the enemy.” First you shoot and then you ask. It is the mantra of the Ecuadorian Armed Forces these days. This morning, as the sun sets, he takes part in a checkpoint at the entrance to a fish market in Caraguay, which sits at the mouth of Guayaquil harbor and smells of saltpeter. Fish sellers dismantle a Christmas tree with a crab dressed as Santa Claus on top. William spots a taxi driver in the distance with tattoos on his arms and flags him down. He makes sure at a glance that they are not eagles or lions, used by members of Ecuador's most dangerous gangs who have challenged the state with bombs and attacks on hospitals, and releases them. Before the taxi driver accelerates, he says through the window:
– Go to Pablo Neruda Avenue, above the iron factory. The lizards are there.
-What are you doing?
—They demand money from the drivers. If they don't give, they kill them. They charged you $1,000!
Confusion reigns in Guayaquil – the country's most populous city, which is open to the sea and therefore a strategic location for drug trafficking. President Daniel Noboa declared a few days ago that the nation is at war as the two largest criminal gangs, Los Choneros and Los Lobos, have taken control of the prisons and taken to the streets to cause chaos.
Military officers search passers-by on the streets of Guayaquil. Santiago Arcos
It was a testament to the strength they have built over the past five years, taking over ports, entire neighborhoods, businesses and fleets of taxi drivers. Along the way, they have infiltrated the most important institutions: they have judges, police officers, generals, prosecutors and congressmen on their payroll. They order the killing of presidential candidates and city councilors who are not related to them. The hearse truck will not enter their areas to pick up the bodies until it receives permission. Sometimes the family themselves lifts the deceased and buries him in a pine box without recording a death certificate. A ghostly light covers these quarters, forbidden to the rest of mortals.
Gustavo López – 22 years old, black T-shirt, cap pulled down – lives in Durán, the most dangerous municipality in Ecuador. Its mayor lives in secret, in exile, knowing full well that he faces a death sentence. A few months ago, one of their city councilors was kidnapped and found days later dead and tortured. No ransom was demanded. The Chone Killers and the Latin Kings are fighting bullets in every corner of this place. Gustavo barely goes out on the street, then goes to the store to buy a few beers and comes back. He is surprised to see boys who played soccer together as children killing themselves in a small dirt field. He never wears a helmet when he rides a motorcycle in case someone mistakes him. He has a tattoo that means “loyalty” in Japanese.
Nowadays, when authorities look for engravings on skin, anyone who has one becomes a suspect. He says if the police stop him, he will give them his cell phone so they can check it. His brother, who got a tattoo of a lion and an eagle six years ago when it meant nothing, doesn't step on the doorstep. Gustavo, on the other hand, has reopened his telephone repair stand: “With God’s blessing and faith, we are getting to work.”
For 72 hours, Guayaquil seemed like a ghost town. Shops closed and people fled to their homes. At night, when the curfew runs from 11 a.m. to 5 a.m., the avenues appear deserted. Only essential workers – doctors, garbage collectors – and airport taxi drivers can go. The police responsible for securing tourism have taken over the hotels, which have a metal detector on the door. Ten police officers guard the entrance to the Hilton and three more monitor from the roof. An army is stationed in front of the house where the president, son of the country's richest businessman, Álvaro Noboa, lives.
In Guayaquil Bay, the port city's commercial hub, about half of the shops were closed due to the wave of violence that erupted in the city on January 9th. Although a state of internal armed conflict has been declared, there are no police or military in sight throughout the commercial complex. Santiago Arcos
—Is this the President's building?
—This one and the one next to it are yours. Well, actually all of Ecuador is yours.
A Marine member jokes and hides his face behind a balaclava. He wears a GoPro camera on his forehead. Given the lack of police effectiveness, the president has asked the military to take over security. The uniformed officers patrol with long guns on board convoys. They scare criminals, but also citizens who know that they are trigger-happy. In the last 24 hours, three suspected Los Lobos members were arrested in central and southern Guayaquil, apparently recognizing their affiliation with the gang. Quito was busier at night when a driver attacked a police station with explosives.
A group of soldiers conducts a vehicle control operation in front of the Caraguay Municipal Market in southern Guayaquil. After declaring internal armed conflict, the president ordered the armed forces to patrol the streets and maintain public order. Santiago Arcos
Authorities have proposed restoring prisons, where riots have periodically broken out, leaving dozens dead. To gain control of the wards, the inmates kill each other with knives. The losers' severed heads end up in the toilet. From there, as contradictory as it may seem, the gangs control the country's organized crime. The murder of Fernando Villavicencio, an investigative journalist who exposed relations between politicians and criminals, was planned in a cell during the election campaign. The two leaders of Los Choneros and Los Lobos, José Adolfo Macías Villamar, alias Fito, and Fabricio Colón Pico, escaped from prison days ago. It is believed they left the prison through the door with a red carpet. Noboa has stated that they will attempt to regain control, with blood and fire if necessary. The last two presidents have promised the same thing, without success.
At the fish market, where live crabs are sold in bundles, no one says anything. When we heard the military boots, there was silence. The fishermen and vendors are silent behind their aquamarine stalls. It's no secret that gang members arrive every Saturday at four in the afternoon to pick up the vaccine, extortion. Rebel means putting a rope around your neck. In April last year, a squad of 30 hitmen murdered nine fishermen with a hail of bullets, causing them to drop dead next to their nets and boats. A murderous rage has gripped Ecuador. People are in disbelief and are witnessing the collapse of an entire country before the eyes of the world.
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