Gunmen break into a television studio in Ecuador
Men armed and with his face hidden invaded the studios of the state television station TC Televisión in the city of Guayaquil, Ecuador, this Tuesday (9). They said they did BombsIt is gunshotlike noises were heard.
The Ecuadorian National Police announced this on the social network X (Twitter). captured some of the people who broke into the studios. Police say they will release more details.
Before the police intervened, a man even held a gun to a presenter's neck (see video above).
According to the website of another television station, Ecuavisa, the men held people hostage and shots were fired in the studio.
According to the newspaper El Universo, an explosive device was planted at the reception of the station and more than ten people entered the station and went to the studio of the program El Noticiero, which was broadcast live.
Another station, Teleamazonas, interviewed a TC employee who was outside the station. He said a colleague called him and told him the studio had been raided and the doors were closed. According to the man, the noise of detonations could be heard inside the building and some colleagues went to the roof.
The State of Ecuador is the controlling partner of TC Televisión.
1 of 2 Image released by the Ecuadorian police shows men who surrendered in the studio of the Ecuadorian broadcaster TC Photo: Reproduction/Twitter Image released by the Ecuadorian police shows men who surrendered in the studio of the Ecuadorian broadcaster TC Photo: Reproduction/Twitter
President Daniel Noboa issued a decree stating that the country is in an internal armed conflict and that the armed forces must neutralize 22 organized criminal groups that are being treated as terrorist organizations.
There has been a security crisis in the country for two days. Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa declared a state of emergency on Monday (9). Prison breakout a criminal named Fito, leader of the Los Choneros group. Prosecutors accuse prison officials of facilitating the escape.
Video shows hostages in the television studio in Ecuador
This Tuesday (9) the authorities reported the escape of another criminal: Fabricio Colón Pico, one of the leaders of Los Lobos, was arrested on Friday for the crime of kidnapping and his alleged responsibility for a plot to assassinate the country's attorney general.
In addition to the kidnappings of agents on Monday night, there were others Explosions in the province of Esmeraldas. Several people have started one Explosive device near a police station It is Two vehicles were burned in other places without leaving victims.
In Quito, a vehicle exploded and a device was detonated near a pedestrian bridge. Mayor Pabel Muñoz called on the executive branch to “militarize” strategic facilities in the face of the “unprecedented security crisis.”
2 of 2 police officers line up in front of the Turi prison in Cuenca, Ecuador Photo: Fernando MACHADO / AFP Police officers line up in front of the Turi prison in Cuenca, Ecuador Photo: Fernando MACHADO / AFP
Noboa, 36, is Ecuador's youngest president and came to power promising to decisively attack drug trafficking groups linked to Colombian and Mexican cartels.
The state of emergency applies throughout the country for 60 days, including in prisons. The measure includes a sixhour curfew between 11 p.m. and 5 a.m. local time (from 1 a.m. to 7 a.m. in Brasília).
Quito's presidential headquarters and subway stations are militarized.
The declaration of a state of emergency allows the armed forces to intervene in the prison system, where an unspecified number of guards were held on Monday. The relevant authority (SNAI) has not indicated whether they have been released.
“We will not negotiate with terrorists, nor will we rest until we bring peace back to Ecuadorians,” Noboa said in a video posted on his Instagram account. The president described the attack on the prisons as retaliation for his actions to “regain official control” of the prisons.
Noboa announced last week that it would build two maximumsecurity prisons in Pastaza and Santa Elena provinces, in the style of prisons built by Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele in his war on gangs.
This Tuesday, indigenous peoples of the Amazon called for peaceful protests to reject this prison project in their biodiverse, oilproducing territory.
Police and military have been looking for Fito since Sunday. He was serving a 34year sentence in the Guayaquil Regional Prison for organized crime, drug trafficking and murder. The group “Los Choneros” competes with 20 other gangs for drug trafficking routes.
Prosecutors have charged two prison officials for their alleged responsibility in the escape of the 44yearold criminal, who earned the title of lawyer in prison.
Located between Colombia and Peru, the world's largest cocaine producers, Ecuador went from an island of peace to a stronghold in the war on drugs. The year 2023 ended with more than 7,800 homicides and 220 tons of drugs seized, new records in the country of 17 million people.
Since 2021, more than 460 people have died in clashes between inmates. Additionally, between 2018 and 2023, road killings increased by almost 800%, from 6 to 46 per 100,000 residents.