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Absolute Mayhem Has Engulfed Ecuador Right Now

Matt Vespa
Matt Vespa  |  January 10, 2024 7:05 AM

It started with a storming of an Ecuadorian television station. Masked men with firearms took staffers and reporters hostage. Police have since retaken the station, but like dominoes, it’s one of many stories showing that the Latin American nation could be in political freefall. 

Dozens of gangs have taken to the streets, declaring open war on the public. It led to President Daniel Noboa to declare a state of emergency. Thousands of police and military personnel have been deployed to find Adolfo Macías, a gang leader who escaped custody. Noboa also empowered the military to take over prisons and patrol the streets. A curfew is in effect and will remain so for the next 60 days (via NYT): 


By Tuesday afternoon, at least eight people had died and two others had been injured in violent episodes in Guayaquil, according to the city’s mayor, Aquiles Álvarez, who held a news conference alongside the chief of police. The authorities also said five hospitals had been overtaken. 

Explosions, burning vehicles, looting and gunfire were also reported across the country, and the authorities announced that a second major gang leader and other inmates had escaped from another prison. 

Ecuador’s president, Daniel Noboa, declared an internal armed conflict on Tuesday and ordered the armed forces to “neutralize” two dozen gangs, which he described as “terrorist organizations,” according to a post on X, formerly known as Twitter. 

Shops, schools, government offices and buildings were shut down. Workers were sent home, and streets in Quito and Guayaquil were jammed with traffic. 

[…] 

Mr. Macías, who is the head of Los Choneros gang and is better known as “Fito,” disappeared on Sunday from an overcrowded prison in the coastal city of Guayaquil, from which he has long overseen his group’s operations. 

The government had ordered the transfer of high-profile convicts, including Mr. Macías, from the cells where they have been running their criminal rings to a maximum-security facility. That decision, prison experts said, may have led to the escape of Mr. Macías and the prison uprisings. 

The Times added that one-fourth of the country’s 36 prisons are now under the control of gangs. Ecuador’s government aims to retake these facilities, with the intention of a national referendum to increase penalties for murder and drugs while also expanding the military’s role in maintaining law and order. Last year, one of Noboa’s presidential opponents, Fernando Villavicencio, was assassinated allegedly by gang members.