Daniel Noboa declares an “internal armed conflict” in Ecuador after the live appearance of an armed commando on a television channel

The president of Ecuador, Daniel Noboa, declared this Tuesday the existence of an “internal armed conflict” in the country, which implies the immediate deployment and intervention of security forces against organized crime. The country is currently experiencing an unprecedented escalation of terror and violence. At two in the afternoon, TC Televisión's broadcast was interrupted and an organized crime group took the journalists hostage. On a live signal and at a national level, the entire country witnessed how about ten hooded and armed men targeted the canal workers. In almost half an hour of transmission, in which journalists pleaded not to harm them, shots were heard on the television set. Then the signal was cut.

The president, who began his term less than two months ago, made the decision one day after decreeing a night curfew and after the assault on the canal in Guayaquil, the most populated city in the country and the epicenter of the very serious security crisis. that suffocates the Ecuadorians. The The wave of attacks that has been affecting the country for three days has escalated this Tuesday, where a group of criminals also tried to enter the Teodoro Maldonado Carbo Hospital, in the same coastal city. In the capital, several businesses have been forced to close due to looting.

In the live images, several hooded men can be seen threatening TC channel workers, demanding that they ask the Police, who had arrived at the scene, to leave live. Subsequently, several gunshots and people's screams were heard while the live broadcast continued. The umpteenth day of chaos comes after President Noboa declared a curfew between eleven at night and five in the morning for two months.

Six prisons have been taken over since last weekend by prisoners who kidnapped prison officers and caused altercations inside the centers. Tension increased after José Adolfo Macías, alias Fito, the most dangerous criminal in Ecuador, escaped from the Guayaquil Regional Prison, with four other people who are part of his security circle. The authorities of the SNAI, the entity in charge of prison control, became aware of this through an operation to control weapons and prohibited objects carried out by the police and the Armed Forces on Sunday morning, when they found Fito's cell, decorated with his image, empty. The Government still does not recognize the escape of the leader of the Los Choneros criminal gang, and has only said that he “does not appear.” However, the Ecuadorian Prosecutor's Office filed charges for the alleged escape against two prison officials who would be involved in the escape.

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