After being taken hostage on live TV
Ecuador’s president orders military operations against gangs
January 10, 2024, 4:21 a.m
For a long time, Ecuador remained largely unaffected by the bloody drug war that has been raging in neighboring Colombia for decades. It’s over. After a brutal attack on a studio of the state television station TC, President Noboa sends the army into battle against the criminal gangs.
In view of the escalating gang violence in Ecuador, President Daniel Noboa has sent the armed forces into battle against the South American country’s powerful gangs. The soldiers are supposed to carry out military operations against around 20 criminal organizations, according to a corresponding decree. Ecuador is now in an internal armed conflict in the fight against organized crime. According to the decree, the gangs are terrorist organizations and non-state warring parties that should be eliminated. “All of these groups are now military targets,” said military chief Jaime Vela.
Shortly before, armed men broke into the premises of the state television station TC Televisión in the port city of Guayaquil during a live broadcast and took several journalists and employees hostage. Gunshots and people screaming could be heard in the recordings. Special police units later brought the television station back under control and arrested 13 suspects. Weapons and explosives were seized, the police said. Those arrested are accused of terrorism.
The security cabinet then met for a meeting at the government headquarters in Carondelet. “We will not allow terrorist groups to disturb the peace in the country,” said President Noboa. According to a report by TV channel Ecuavisa, soldiers in armored vehicles patrolled the historic center of the capital Quito. The Ministry of Education announced that all schools in the country will remain closed until the end of the week.
Drug lords on the run
Due to chaotic conditions in the prisons, the government of the South American country only declared a 60-day state of emergency on Monday. Criminal gangs fought violently in prisons and took guards hostage. According to the prison administration, the head of the powerful gang “Los Choneros”, Adolfo Macías alias “Fito”, and the leader of the gang “Los Lobos”, Fabricio Colón Pico, managed to escape.
The security situation in Ecuador had recently deteriorated dramatically. The murder rate of around 46.5 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants last year was the highest in the history of the once peaceful Andean country and one of the highest in Latin America. Presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio, who campaigned on a promise to fight corruption, was shot dead in August after a campaign rally. Multiple gangs with ties to powerful Mexican cartels are fighting for control of drug trafficking routes. Albanian drug traffickers are now also said to be involved. Ecuador is an important transit country for cocaine from South America that is smuggled to the United States and Europe.