Courtesy TC/REUTERS
On January 9, gunmen blew up the set of a public television station in Guayaquil, in the southwest of the country, briefly holding journalists and other channel employees hostage.
Prosecutors charged with investigating a live disturbance on the set of an Ecuadorian public television channel on January 9, in which armed men briefly took journalists and other employees hostage, were killed, the prosecution announced on Wednesday, January 17.
The live sight of heavily armed men beating journalists and TC channel employees to the ground in Guayaquil (Southwest), shocked a country facing a wave of violence fueled by drug-trafficking gangs. “They came to kill us, my God save us», a hostage journalist sent an AFP correspondent in a WhatsApp message. Complaints were audible in the background.
In between shots, the lights on the set went out and the camera froze, but these surreal images continued to be broadcast live for several minutes. Until apparently with the intervention of the police “Police, police” Thirteen attackers were arrested, with no casualties, and their faces were released to the press a few days later. According to the prosecution, the slain prosecutor was in charge of determining which gang had carried out the attack.
Bullet impact
Local media broadcast images of the plaintiff’s car with multiple bullet holes in the driver’s window. “In response to the assassination of our colleague Cesar Suárez (…), I will be clear: organized crime groups, criminals and terrorists will not stop our commitment to Ecuadorian society.“, said Attorney General Diana Salazar in a video posted on X.
The attack on the TV set happened shortly after the escape of feared leader of the Choneros gang, Adolfo Macias alias “.Fito », the starting point of a new episode of violence in a country ravaged by drug trafficking. After Fito’s escape, several riots and hostage-taking of guards affected various prisons, fueled by horrifying videos circulating on social networks, in which masked inmates threatened inmates with knives.
As gangs terrorized the country’s streets before more than 20,000 troops were sent to restore order, Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa declared the country “in war“More than 200 prison officers held hostage by the rebels were freed. At least 19 people have died in the violence in the country. Ecuador, once a haven of peace, has been ravaged by their violence after becoming a major export point for cocaine produced in neighboring Peru and Colombia. Street murders increased 800% between 2018 and 2023, from 6 to 46 per 100,000 inhabitants. In 2023, 7,800 murders were reported and 220 tons of drugs were seized.
