Ecuadorians seek refuge in the midst of the 'state of war' against the mafia

Desolate streets, closed businesses and the center of Quito militarized.

This is how he lived Ecuador this Wednesday its third day under a climate of panic due to the “state of war” what the president announced Daniel Noboa to combat the criminal gangs that corner the neighboring country.

(Read here: 'Fito', the dangerous criminal who escaped from prison and caused chaos in Ecuador)

Since Sunday, numerous gangs and drug trafficking groups have exhibited their strength and sowing terror in the streets.

“The scare we went through was tenacious (…) Today we are not safe, anything can happen,” he says Luis Chiliguano, a 53-year-old vigilante who prefers to “hide” rather than face “criminality that is better armed.”

In the midst of this atmosphere of anxiety, Some 139 police and prison staff have been held by rioting prisoners in five prisonsthere have been attacks on journalists and countless armed attacks have left at least 14 dead throughout the territory, according to the latest report from the authorities at the time of going to press.

“We are in a state of war and we cannot give in to these terrorist groups,” Noboa told radio Canela, after declaring the nation in “internal armed conflict” on Tuesday.

In addition, dozens of soldiers guarded the presidential headquarters in the Quito centerwhile in the north the La Carolina park, one of the largest in the city of almost three million inhabitants, It was empty without its usual athletes.

On the other hand, few cars circulated on the avenues of the capital and Guayaquil (southwest), the port city that in recent years became the epicenter of drug trafficking to the United States and Europe.

The offensive by criminal organizations, linked to cartels in Mexico and Colombia, included an unusual break-in recorded live on Tuesday.

And this February 9 will go down in the history of Ecuador after men armed with rifles and grenades took over a public television channel during the midday news, threatened journalists and shot two workers.

Although there were no deaths, several people responsible for the incident were arrested. According to the commander of the Ecuadorian Police, who spoke with the Efe agency, the dialogue prevented the armed group that entered from turning the takeover into a bloodbath.

The attack in Guayaquil on the headquarters of the TC Televisión channel increased panic in the population, who quickly left the streets to take refuge in their homes with their families.

Due to its strategic location and dollarization of the economy, Ecuador has become a bastion of drug trafficking. Faced with the new wave of violence, President Noboa announced a frontal war against twenty organizations that have some 20,000 members and granted them belligerent status.

Located between Colombia and Peru, the largest producers of cocaine, Ecuador was for many years a country safe from drug trafficking, but in recent times it has been transformed into a new bastion of drug trafficking with gangs fighting for control of the territory, but united in their war against the State.

2023 closed with more than 7,800 homicides and 220 tons of drugs seized, new records in the nation of 17 million inhabitants.

“This government is taking the necessary actions that in recent years no one wanted to take. And that requires large ostrich eggs, not cardboard eggs,” said the 36-year-old president.

The truth is that terror prevailed after the escape of Adolfo Macías, alias “Fito”, head of the main criminal gang in the country known as Los Choneros, who was held in a Guayaquil prison and was detected on Sunday. Hundreds of soldiers and police continue to search for the capo, while he governs a state of emergency throughout the country, including penitentiaries, and a six-hour curfew, starting at 11 p.m.

Added to all this is that on Tuesday another criminal boss escaped from prison, Fabricio Colon Pico, one of the leaders of The Wolvess, accused of kidnapping and planning the murder of the attorney general. The prisoners took advantage of the chaos and rioted in different prisons and detained more than one hundred prison guards.

This has caused concern in the international community, which has supported the Ecuadorian government. The United States, for example, declared itself willing to “deal with violence, although it ruled out “military support.”

Brazil, Colombia, Chile, Venezuela, the Dominican Republic, Spain, the European Union and the UN rejected the attack, while France and Russia warned their citizens not to travel to Ecuador. In other measures, Peru declared its entire border with Ecuador under a state of emergency and Colombia announced a militarization of its border line.

*With AFP and Efe