SourceI have been warning in my daily Latin American Report about the deteriorating situation in Ecuador. After the embarrassing escape of the leader of the criminal gang Los Choneros on Sunday, news of a much more shameful escape followed on Tuesday, involving one of the leaders of another criminal group, who had been arrested last Friday.
In the last section of this report you can find out how things turned out yesterday. Right now there are reports of the takeover of a TV station--already recovered--in the hyper-violent state of Guayas. Several police and penitentiary agents have been held or kidnapped over the last few hours. A state of exception has been in effect since yesterday, which directs the deployment of the armed forces in internal security functions, including the calming of the broken penitentiary system. A few minutes ago, the young President Daniel Noboa decreed the existence of an "internal armed conflict", and called on the Army to "neutralize" the criminal structures that are currently holding the nation by the throat. This is a preview of my next report in the following hours.
El operativo policial en @tctelevision dejó 13 aprehendidos, armas, explosivos y otros indicios.
— GraD. César Augusto Zapata Correa (@CmdtPoliciaEc) January 9, 2024
Se liberaron a los rehenes y se puso a buen recaudo a los trabajadores.
Los causantes serán puestos ante la justicia para que sean sancionados por los actos terroristas. pic.twitter.com/9KEXWvDfzZ
Ecuador to charge 13 people arrested for breaking into a TV studio during a broadcast with terrorism (from @AP) https://t.co/qaYx7suiGW
— E. Eduardo Castillo (@EECastilloAP) January 9, 2024
A live broadcast by Ecuadorean television station TC was interrupted by armed intruders, with gunshots and yelling heard on a live feed, a day after President Daniel Noboa declared a state of emergency https://t.co/Tojf2bIKIk pic.twitter.com/nQJQ1Vi8Ov
— Reuters (@Reuters) January 9, 2024
Masked assailants, waving weapons, broke into a live TV broadcast in Ecuador as drug-related violence continues to plague the country https://t.co/7eHTIsTGYR via @WSJ
— Jose de Cordoba (@Jose_deCordoba) January 9, 2024