Masked gunmen broke into a live television studio in Ecuador and threatened the terrified staff. Employees were forced to the floor during a broadcast by the public television channel TC in Guayaquil before the live feed was cut off. The attackers were later seen leaving the studio, allegedly carrying several hostages. Police have made arrests.
Ecuador declared a 60-day state of emergency on Monday following the disappearance of a notorious gangster from his prison cell.
Masked gunmen broke into a live television studio in Ecuador and threatened terrified staff
It is unclear if the incident at the TV studio in Guayaquil was related to the disappearance from a prison in the same city of the boss of the Choneros gang, Adolfo Macías Villamar, also known as Fito.
In neighboring Peru, the government ordered the immediate deployment of a police force to the border to prevent any instability from entering the country.
The United States has condemned the “brazen attacks” in Ecuador and stated that it is “coordinating closely” with President Daniel Noboa and his Ecuadorean government, as well as being “ready to assist.”
Ecuador is one of the world’s largest banana exporters, but it also exports oil, coffee, cocoa, shrimp, and fish. A surge in violence in the Andean nation, both inside and outside of prisons, has been linked to fighting between foreign and domestic drug cartels for control of cocaine routes to the United States and Europe.
During Tuesday’s assault on the TV station, one gunman pointed a pump-action shotgun at one of the captives’ heads while also threatening him with a revolver.
According to the AFP news agency, a woman was heard pleading, “Don’t shoot, please don’t shoot,” while another person screamed in pain.
“Please, they came in to kill us,” a TC employee told AFP via WhatsApp message. “God, do not let this happen. “The criminals are on air.”
On Tuesday, President Noboa declared that the country was in the midst of an “internal armed conflict” that now existed in the country, and he was mobilizing the armed forces to carry out “military operations to neutralize” what he called “transnational organized crime, terrorist organizations, and belligerent non-state actors.”.
40 inmates, including another convicted drug lord, escaped from a prison in Riobamba
He was responding to a recent wave of jail riots, prison escapes, and other acts of violence blamed on criminal gangs.
His decree listed the Choneros (named after the town of Chone in Manabi Province) as well as 21 other gangs: the Aguilas, AguilasKiller, AK-47, Caballeros Oscuros, ChoneKiller, Covicheros, Cuartel de las Feas, Cubanos, Fatales, Ganster, Kater Piler, Lagartos, Latin Kings, Lobos, Los p.27, Los Tiburones, Mafia 18, Mafia Trebol, Patrones, R7, and Tiguerones.
The order expanded on the state of emergency declared on Monday, which established a nightly curfew to quell violence following Fito’s escape. Security forces have attempted to restore order in at least six jails where riots erupted on Monday.
In the early hours of Tuesday, nearly 40 inmates, including another convicted drug lord, escaped from a prison in Riobamba.
At least seven police officers were kidnapped, and a video circulating on social media shows three of them sitting on the ground with a gun pointed at them, one of whom is forced to read a statement addressed to President Noboa, according to AFP.
“You declared war, you will get war,” the officer reads out. “You declared a state of emergency. We declare police, civilians, and soldiers to be the spoils of war.”
Residents of Quito told Reuters that the city had been in chaos since the attack on the Guayaquil TV station.
“There’s too much nervousness in the city,” said Mario Urena. “At work, people are leaving earlier. All the people are leaving; you see a lot of traffic and alarms everywhere. There’s chaos.”
Other Cuenca residents told AFP that they were shocked to see the TV station seized.
“In Ecuador, we have never seen this kind of thing, where a channel has been practically hijacked and a broadcast starts with shootings and kidnappings,” said Francisco Rosas. “So what kind of security situation are we in? And if a television station is capable of receiving this type of robbery, this type of insecurity, imagine restaurants or shops.”