Highlights: Ecuador: the resumption of security in the hands of power welcomed by the population. Since the escape at the beginning of January of public enemy number one Adolfo Macias, alias Fito, the country has been in a state of emergency. Tens of thousands of soldiers and police are on the streets and in the country's prisons to regain control. Access to prisons is still prohibited to the press but numerous videos are circulating on social networks, as usual with a lot of misinformation. It is very difficult to find people who do not approve of the hard way.

Since the escape in early January of public enemy number one Adolfo Macias, alias Fito, leader of the powerful Choneros gang, the country has been in a state of emergency and a state of internal war has been decreed by…

Ecuador: the resumption of security in the hands of power welcomed by the population, despite the risks of slippage

Since the escape at the beginning of January of public enemy number one Adolfo Macias, alias Fito, leader of the powerful Choneros gang, the country has been in a state of emergency and a state of internal war has been decreed by President Noboa. Tens of thousands of soldiers and police are on the streets and in the country's prisons to regain control. And the recovery is vigorous, sometimes to the detriment of human rights.

Ecuador: impressive deployment of law enforcement in the El Inca prison from which the leader of the Choneros gang had just escaped, on January 8, 2024. Since the proclamation of the state of emergency which followed, security forces massively invaded places of detention. REUTERS - KAREN TORO

By: RFI Follow

with our correspondent in Quito,

Eric Samson

Access to prisons is still prohibited to the press but numerous videos are circulating on social networks, as usual with a lot of misinformation. For example, a video shows detainees on the ground while tear gas and hot water are thrown into their faces. It appears to be a setup. Others, however, are real, the source is known to us, such as the one showing detainees in boxers, bare chests, hands on their heads going up a staircase with unusually rude soldiers, who force them to shout “

Ecuador, Ecuador

! » as if to show that the State is back and that the gangs no longer make the law.

Ecuador: police operation on January 18, 2024 in regional prison No. 8 in Guayaquil, the day after the assassination in the same city of prosecutor Cesar Suarez. AFP - HANDOUT

President Noboa's popularity on the rise

It is very difficult to find people who do not approve of the hard way. President

Daniel Noboa

's popularity rate

is 80% because people appreciate that, for example, the police and the military have evacuated whole truckloads of firearms, knives, drugs, televisions, computers, etc. from prisons. cell phones, cable TV antennas, industrial stoves, video game consoles and even sets of keys to their cells...

✅️Results of military operations carried out on 28 December 2024, by the Armed Forces of the Ecuador at national level.

Download the document and the photos in the following enlace.📄https://t.co/cat9sw2Xgx pic.twitter.com/X9lK3qgWy6

— Fuerzas Armadas del Ecuador (@FFAAECUADOR) January 29, 2024

Read alsoEcuador: President Noboa refines his security strategy

Billy Navarrete, executive director of the Standing Committee for the Defense of Human Rights, recognizes that his message is finding it increasingly difficult to get across. “

Since January 9, the escape of “Fito” the point of view that we have defended for 40 years is going through its most difficult moment. We too are victims of violence but any message defending human rights, particularly of detainees, earns us insults and threats. A colleague recently received death threats after his photo was posted on social media

🚨PRONUNCIAMIENTO

Our solidarity with the victims of violence in the Ecuador and our demands to address structurally the problem of organized crime.

Pronunciamiento de @DDHH_Alianza sobre decreto de conflicto interno armado.

👉 https://t.co/ehJbCFQULR pic.twitter.com/pTdi5u83bg

— CDH.GYE (@CDHGYE) January 10, 2024

Return to calm in prisons?

It is mainly the families of detainees who protest against this “

mano dura” policy.

Their loved ones are treated like animals, according to them. We met them last Wednesday in front of the Guayaquil prison. They had not had contact with their loved ones for a week since all cell phones had been seized and all visits suspended.

Let us point out, however, that the American Forces have published an official video in which no one shouts. She wants to demonstrate that the prisons are now held, that all privileges have been abolished, that the inmates previously extorted by the gangs are calmer, which is probably true.

Ecuador: the resumption of security in the hands of power welcomed by the population, despite the risks of slippage

Ecuador: the resumption of security in the hands of power welcomed by the population, despite the risks of slippage

President Noboa's popularity on the rise

Return to calm in prisons?

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