Ecuador’s president on Tuesday gave orders to “neutralize” criminal gangs after gunmen stormed and opened fire in a TV studio, as bandits threatened random executions on a second day of terror in the country.
Gangs declared war on the government when Ecuadoran President Daniel Noboa announced a state of emergency following the prison escape on Sunday of one of Ecuador’s most powerful narco bosses.
Noboa ordered military operations to “neutralize” criminal gangs as the country exploded into what he called an “internal armed conflict.”
Photo: AFP
Long a peaceful haven sandwiched between top cocaine exporters Colombia and Peru, Ecuador has seen violence explode in the past few years as rival gangs with links to Mexican and Colombian cartels vie for control.
In the port city of Guayaquil on Tuesday, men wearing balaclavas and waving weapons stormed a state-owned TV station during a live broadcast, taking several journalists and staff members hostage.
At least 10 people have been killed in a series of attacks blamed on gangs — eight in Guayaquil and two “viciously murdered by armed criminals” in the nearby town of Nobol, police said.
Three officers were wounded in Guayaquil, they said.
After the escape of Jose Adolfo Macias, aka “Fito” — leader of Ecuador’s biggest gang, Los Choneros — Noboa on Monday declared a nationwide state of emergency and nightly curfew.
Gangs retaliated, taking police officers hostage and setting off explosions in several cities.
On Tuesday they stormed a studio of state-owned TC Television in Guayaquil with guns and explosives.
Hooded attackers fired gunshots during a live TC broadcast as a woman could be heard pleading: “Don’t shoot, please don’t shoot.”
The intruders forced crew onto the ground and a person could be heard screaming as the studio lights went out, but the broadcast continued.
Police entered the studio after about 30 minutes of chaos.
Noboa, 36, who was elected last year on a pledge to fight drug-related violence, ordered the military operations against gangs he described as “terrorist organizations and belligerent non-state actors.”
Authorities reported multiple explosions and vehicles set alight, including in the capital, Quito, and said that seven police officers had been kidnapped.
A video circulating on social media showed three of the kidnapped officers sitting on the ground with a gun pointed at them as one was forced to read a statement addressed to Noboa.
“You declared war, you will get war,” the officer read. “You declared a state of emergency. We declare police, civilians and soldiers to be the spoils of war.”
The statement added that anyone found on the street after 11pm “will be executed.”
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