The unrest started when Ecuador's notorious drug cartel leader, Adolfo "Fito" Macías, escaped from a high-security prison on Sunday. On Tuesday, a group of armed men then stormed a television studio.

Fouad Youcefi was at an airport in the capital Quito when the storming occurred.

"The airport is closing. It's a security measure and all the people I meet are trying to find out what's going on," he said when SVT reached him on Tuesday evening.

The information that comes out is quite scarce, says Fouad Youcefi:

"The atmosphere here is as if it has changed. People have worry in their eyes. A woman told me that a lot of businesses inside Quito are closing, and here at the airport, security has just closed the entrance to everyone except passengers.