Advertisement
Americas and the Caribbean
WorldAmericas

Ecuador in state of ‘internal armed conflict’ as gunmen storm TV studio, gang violence escalates

  • Ecuador faced a string of violent incidents, including the on-air invasion of a TV station by armed gunmen
  • President Daniel Noboa sends armed forces into battle against South American country’s powerful gangs

Reading Time:3 minutes
Why you can trust SCMP
0
A masked gunman stands over journalists during a live television broadcast, in Guayaquil, Ecuador on Tuesday. Photo: TC Television network via AP
Agence France-Presse

Ecuador’s president gave orders to “neutralise” criminal gangs after gunmen opened fire in a TV studio and bandits threatened random executions on a second day of terror in the violence-riddled country.

At least 10 people have been killed in a series of attacks blamed on gangs as the country exploded in what President Daniel Noboa on Tuesday called an “internal armed conflict”.

He gave orders to target criminal gangs after gangsters declared war following the prison escape Sunday of one of Ecuador’s most powerful narco bosses.

Eight people were killed and three were wounded in attacks in the port city of Guayaquil, and two officers were “viciously murdered by armed criminals” in the nearby town of Nobol, police said Tuesday evening.

Long a peaceful haven sandwiched between top cocaine exporters Colombia and Peru, Ecuador has seen violence explode in recent years as rival gangs with links to Mexican and Colombian cartels vie for control.

After the escape of Jose Adolfo Macias, aka “Fito” – leader of Ecuador’s biggest gang Los Choneros – Noboa on Monday declared a countrywide state of emergency and nighttime curfew.
Advertisement