Unprecedented security crisis in Ecuador, placed in a state of "internal armed conflict"

Europe 1 with AFP 06:32, January 10, 2024, modified at 06:33, January 10, 2024

Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa has declared his country in a state of "internal armed conflict" and ordered the "neutralization" of criminal groups involved in drug trafficking, on the third day of an unprecedented security crisis that has left at least 10 people dead, according to an initial assessment.

In a decree signed in the afternoon, President Noboa acknowledged "the existence of an internal armed conflict" and ordered "the mobilization and intervention of the armed forces and the national police (...) to guarantee sovereignty and national integrity against organized crime, terrorist organizations and non-state belligerents." After declaring a state of emergency on Monday, Noboa, 36, the youngest president in Ecuador's history, this time ordered the "neutralization" of all these criminal groups, of which he provided an exhaustive list, while stressing the need for the armed forces to act "with respect for human rights".

The country ravaged by drug gang violence

These criminal gangs, most of them simple street gangs until a few years ago, have become the bloody actors of the drug trade with international tentacles, as Ecuador has established itself as the main export point for cocaine produced in neighbouring Peru and Colombia. Once a safe haven, the country is now ravaged by gang violence.

Public enemy number one, the leader of the Choneros (one of these gangs numbering about 1,8 men, according to experts), Adolfo Macias, alias "Fito", disappeared on Sunday from the prison of Guayaquil (southwest). On Tuesday, one of the leaders of Los Lobos, another powerful drug gang, also escaped.

Live hostage-taking

In the latest dramatic episode, gunmen stormed the set of a public television station in Guayaquil on Tuesday afternoon, briefly taking journalists and other employees of the channel hostage. In the midst of the gunfire, the broadcast of these surreal images continued live for long minutes. Until, apparently, the intervention of the forces of law and order with cries of "Police! Police!". No one was reportedly killed or injured in the raid, and 13 assailants were arrested, police said.

"These are extremely difficult days," the president's secretary of communication, Roberto Izurieta, acknowledged on Tuesday, as the executive took "the important decision to fight head-on against these terrorist threats".

"Fito's" escape was followed by several mutinies and hostage-taking of guards in various prisons, all relayed by chilling videos circulated on social media showing the captives being threatened by the knives of masked inmates. On Tuesday, new videos emerged, this time showing the execution of at least two guards, by gun and hanging.

In a statement, the prison administration (SNAI) said that 139 of its staff are still being held hostage in five prisons across the country. SNAI has not commented on the execution videos.

Businesses and schools closed

The state of emergency declared on Monday by Noboa, who was elected in November on a promise to restore security, extends throughout the country for 60 days. The army is thus authorized to maintain order in the streets (with a night curfew) and prisons. It has clearly had little effect so far: scores of incidents, including the abduction of seven police officers, have also been reported across the country.

In the port city of Guayaquil, where criminal groups are all-powerful, the police chief said the violence left eight people dead and three wounded. Two policemen were also "viciously murdered by armed criminals" in the town of Nobol, near Guayaquil.

The images disseminated on social networks, which are difficult to verify, give an idea of this violence and feed the impression of a chaos that is gradually taking hold in certain localities of the country: Molotov cocktail attacks, burned cars, random shooting at police officers, scenes of panic...

In the major port of Guayaquil, which has been plunged into psychosis, many hotels and restaurants have closed their doors to the public, while army vehicles patrol the streets, it has been found. In the fear-stricken capital Quito, shops and malls were also closing prematurely. In the evening, the Ministry of Education ordered the temporary closure of all schools in the country.

U.S. 'extremely concerned about violence'

Security forces have released powerful footage of their interventions since Sunday in various penitentiaries, showing hundreds of detainees in their underwear, hands on their heads and lying unceremoniously on the ground.

The head of the US diplomacy for Latin America, Brian Nichols, said the United States was "extremely concerned about the violence" and was "in close contact with President (Daniel) Noboa and the Ecuadorian government ... ready to provide assistance." Brazil, Chile, Colombia and Peru expressed support for Ecuador, expressing their rejection of violence.