An anti-mafia prosecutor from Ecuador that investigated the assault by armed men on the canal TC television on January 9 was murdered this Wednesday in the city of Guayaquil, a source from the prosecution informed the AFP agency.
(Read here: This is the situation in Ecuador a week after declaring internal armed conflict)
“Unfortunately it is true,” said an official from the investigating agency when questioned about the shooting death of prosecutor César Suárez. who had been in charge of determining which criminal group was behind the takeover of the channel in the middle of the broadcast of a program.
Media locals released images of Suárez's truck with several bullet wounds in the driver's window on an avenue.
A police official assured AFP that “the investigative units are carrying out the relevant investigations to find those responsible” in the country's main port, the center of drug trafficking operations.
Shortly after this investigation became known, the Attorney General of Ecuador, Diana Salazarissued a statement through the social network
“Given the murder of our colleague César Suárez, prosecutor of the specialized unit against transnational crime in Guayas, I am going to be emphatic: organized crime groups, criminals, terrorists, will not stop our commitment to Ecuadorian society.”said Salazar during his message.
Additionally, He called on Ecuadorian forces to “guarantee the safety of those” investigating organized crime in the neighboring country.
“This atrocious event brings a message about the work we are doing from justice in Ecuador (…). We are carrying out the first steps with the aim of guaranteeing, as in every case of violent death, that this crime does not go unpunished,” he said.
It is still not clear who is behind that assault on the TC channel, in which hooded men threatened journalists and other workers with guns, rifles and grenades.
Ecuador is experiencing moments of crisis due to the wave of drug violence that has been plaguing the country for months.but last week had its most critical moment when armed commandos from the main organized gangs took to the streets to sow terror, especially in the province of Guayas.
The attack against the TC channel was one of the first criminal acts that Ecuador suffered after the escape of the powerful Adolfo Macías or “Fito”head of the country's main gang, confirmed on January 8.
A member of the Army searches a man, in the south of Quito.
After this, the Ecuadorian president, Daniel Noboadeclared war on the mafia and introduced a state of emergency to deal with crime.
During these last eight days, A total of 1,975 people have been detained in Ecuador during the first eight days of the declaration by the Government of an “internal armed conflict” against organized crime, of which 158 were arrested for alleged terrorism.
The figure emerges from a report by the Government of Ecuador published this Wednesday on the police and military operations carried out in the national territory under this new scenario, where 22 organized crime gangs have been considered terrorist groups and belligerent non-state actors.
Between January 9 and 17, the Ecuadorian authorities also claim to have killed five alleged members of these gangs now classified as terrorists, while two police officers were murdered and another eleven were freed from different kidnappings apparently carried out by these mafias.
During that period, they have seized 728 firearms, 736 bladed weapons, 41 weapons feeders, nearly 21,200 bullets and 521 explosives.
In the last five years, the homicide rate per 100,000 inhabitants went from 6 to 46 in 2023.
INTERNATIONAL EDITORIAL
TIME
*With AFP
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