Emergency in Ecuador: Police detain men in balaclavas who seized TV station
Kyiv • UNN
The Ecuadorian police arrested armed men in balaclavas who seized a television station with weapons and explosives, which was considered a terrorist act by Police Commander Zapata.
The head of the Ecuadorian National Police said that they had arrested all the armed men in balaclavas who broke into the TV studio during a live broadcast and threatened the staff. This was reported by Associated Press, UNN.
This is an act that should be considered a terrorist act.
Details
Police commander Cesar Zapata also told Teleamazonas that officers seized weapons and explosives that the masked attackers were carrying. However, he did not say how many people were arrested.
In the evening, people wearing balaclavas broke into the building of the TC TV station in the port city of Guayaquil and forced people to lie on the floor. They brandished weapons and explosives during the live broadcast. All this happened inside the Ecuadorian
Shortly after the armed men stormed the television station, Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa issued a decree designating 20 drug trafficking groups operating in the country as terrorist groups and authorizing the Ecuadorian military to "neutralize" these groups under international humanitarian law.
The government did not say how many attacks took place after they announced that on Sunday, Los Choneros gang leader Adolfo Macias, alias "Fito," was found missing from his cell in a low-security prison. He was supposed to be transferred to a maximum security prison the same day.
Masias' whereabouts are still unknown. The prosecutor's office opened an investigation and charged two guards in connection with his alleged escape.
It should be noted that neither the police, nor the penitentiary system, nor the federal government can say for sure whether the prisoner escaped from the facility or is still hiding in it.
Macias was a convicted drug trafficker, murderer and organized crime offender. He was serving his 34-year sentence in La Regional prison in the port of Guayaquil.
Context
In recent years, Ecuador has been gripped by a surge in drug trafficking-related violence, including murders and kidnappings.
Los Choneros is one of the Ecuadorian gangs that authorities believe is responsible for the surge in violence that reached a new level last year after the assassination of presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio. According to the authorities, the gang is linked to the Mexican Sinaloa cartel.
Experts and authorities have recognized that gang members actually run their cartels from prison. Detainee Macias also allegedly controlled his group directly from prison.
