Since Monday night, January 8, there have been many attacks and kidnappings of police officers in Ecuador, a country in South America. Another in a string of increasingly violent incidents, a group of masked gunmen broke into the Ecuadorian TC Television station and broadcast a live 15 minutes of terror.
The 13 attackers were detained, according to the authorities, and will face terrorism-related charges. The incident did not result in any fatalities.
- After taking office in November, Daniel Noboa, the president of Ecuador, oversaw the prosecution of “illegal” activity. Gangs in Ecuador have previously detonated vehicle bombs in front of government buildings and killed a presidential contender.
- Daniel Noboa, who had promised to bring about peace in the nation, issued an edict declaring that the violent nation had reached a state of “internal armed conflict.”
- Unprecedented threats and terror were broadcast live for fifteen minutes on Tuesday during the mid-afternoon newscast at the Guayaquil studio of TC Television by masked gunmen. The day’s events began with the appearance of a masked guy brandishing a weapon during the public TV station’s live broadcast. A shotgun-wielding second guy came, followed by a third, and then yet more, telling the station staff to lie down.
- These gunmen ordered TC TelevisionOne’s chief of news, Alina Manrique, and other station staff to lie down on the ground. “We are on air, so you know that you cannot play with the mafia,” one of the attackers reportedly stated, according to AP. .. One staffer yelled, “Don’t shoot!” as these attackers levelled their weapons at the news team.
- The news of an attack on an Ecuadorian TV station broke hours after a slew of attacks and kidnappings of police officers.
- There were no casualties, according to the authorities, and 13 shooters were taken into custody and will face terrorism-related charges. Later that day, Daniel Noboa called a meeting of his security Cabinet. The assaults were a response to the government’s measures against these gangs, according to the chief of the Armed Forces Joint Command.
- Adm. Jaime Vela declared, “They have unleashed a wave of violence to frighten the population,” in reference to the assaults. According to Jaime Vela, the attacks were “unprecedented” in Ecuadorian history.
- According to AP, Will Freeman, a political analyst at the Council on Foreign Relations, stated, “This is a turning point,” but he also noted that the events of the past few days were a new high in bloodshed. In addition, Will Freeman stated, “The government’s response will either create a precedent for similar incidents to happen in the future or it will use this as a catalyst to implement some very important structural reforms that will help the state win the war on crime,” according to the AP.
- Following the infamous Los Choneros gang boss Adolfo MacÃas, often known as “Fito,” making his way out of jail on Sunday, President Noboa issued a proclamation of national emergency on January 8. Authorities used this order to suspend people’s rights and to mobilize the military in correctional facilities.
- On Tuesday, Noboa issued a further directive designating 20 drug trafficking gangs as terrorist organisations and granting Ecuador’s military the authority to “neutralise” them in accordance with international humanitarian law.
More than thirty attacks have occurred, according to the authorities, since Los Choneros broke out of jail. On Sunday, Los Choneros were scheduled to be moved to a high security institution. Fabricio Colón Pico, a leader of the Los Lobos gang, was captured on Friday after breaking out of jail.
