The biggest city in Ecuador has been turned into an abandoned place due to a shocking surge of criminal activity, causing the country’s newly elected leader to declare a state of war.
On Thursday, the streets of Guayaquil – a normally teeming port city of about 3 million residents – remained eerily quiet after a succession of arson attacks, car bombings, shootings and prison riots in different parts of the country claimed as many as 15 lives.
Street corners filled with heaps of rubbish after waste collectors – like schools, universities and government offices – suspended their operations. Many of the city’s usually clogged roads were almost free of traffic – and those who did venture out drove at high speed to reduce their exposure. Most shops and businesses remained closed, even outside the nationwide 11pm-5am curfew introduced in response to this week’s violence. After dark on Wednesday hardly a soul was to be seen.
“Guayaquil is a desert,” said José Luis Calderón, a local television journalist who was held hostage live on air on Tuesday when more than a dozen gunmen stormed his channel’s headquarters in the city.
Soon after the bold attack on TC Televisión, the president of Ecuador, Daniel Noboa, announced a state of “internal armed conflict”. In response to the situation, Noboa declared, “We are at war and we must not give in to these terrorists.” This statement was made on Wednesday as law enforcement faced challenges in restoring order to Ecuador’s streets and prisons. The government reported that 178 guards and workers remained captive by criminals associated with Mexican drug cartels.
On Thursday, while patrolling the Caraguay seafood market along the riverside in Guayaquil, a representative of the navy, Marcelo Gutiérrez, stated that they were actively combatting the situation and would ultimately succeed.
“I assure these troublemakers that we will not hesitate to protect our citizens. We are willing to sacrifice our lives in order to defend the population,” declared Gutiérrez, aged 38, as his soldiers marched through the market with their assault rifles.
The representative from the navy stated that the situation in Guayaquil was under control and the port city was slowly returning to its usual state. However, reporters from The Guardian observed minimal presence of security forces in the city’s streets on Wednesday and Thursday.
The epicenter of this week’s surge in aggression is La Regional, a heavily guarded correctional facility located on the northern edge of Guayaquil. This prison was housing one of Ecuador’s most infamous felons, José Adolfo Macías Villamar, until recently.
The supposed escape of Macías, the head of Los Choneros – a strong gang linked to the Sinaloa cartel in Mexico – caused a surprising outbreak of violence and turmoil over the weekend, resulting in shock throughout a nation known for its peaceful nature in South America.
Following the disappearance of Macías, also known as “Fito”, multiple prison guards were taken hostage by inmates. Disturbing videos of security officials being killed, some of which were potentially fabricated, quickly went viral on social media. On Tuesday, during the height of the chaos, at least eight individuals lost their lives and two were injured, leading one newspaper to label it as Guayaquil’s “day of terror”.
On Thursday afternoon, Marco Flores, a 43-year-old newspaper vendor, described Tuesday as a tumultuous day similar to an earthquake or tsunami. He was standing outside the Regional prison, surrounded by armed soldiers.
The tabloid Flores was hawking, Extra, offered a chilling snapshot of the violence sweeping Ecuador, where the murder rate has soared over the past five years thanks to its increasingly key role in the international cocaine smuggling trade between South America and Europe.
A security guard acted heroically by quickly taking a wounded schoolgirl to the hospital on Tuesday after she was hit by a stray bullet. In another story, 35 special forces police officers were able to regain control of TC Televisión’s studios and rescue its journalists. A third article stated that vigilante groups were confronting gangs in Quito with weapons such as machetes and baseball bats. The fourth article reported that shop owners in Guayaquil and Quito had shut down their businesses to avoid being robbed or harmed. One frustrated merchant was quoted as saying, “We are safe, but we are in a difficult situation.”
A recent opinion piece in the same publication encouraged the approximately 18 million citizens of Ecuador to support Noboa, who was elected just last October, in his determined efforts to defeat over 20 criminal groups, including the Wolves, Latin Kings, Chone Killers, and AK47. The article emphasized the importance of unity among Ecuadorian society in this crucial moment of history, stating that it is necessary in order to successfully wage this unprecedented war. The piece concluded by stating that the country has reached a critical point and there is no alternative for saving it.
Experts in human rights and security are concerned that Noboa’s efforts to “neutralize” gangs may result in even more violence. Chris Dalby, the director of World of Crime, a journalism organization that investigates organized crime, predicts that there will be a significant increase in crackdowns in the short term. He also believes that Noboa will prioritize increasing the number of casualties for political gain, even though he personally disagrees with this approach.
Dalby thought that the recent attacks were a deliberate effort by gang leaders to scare Noboa, the youngest president in Ecuador’s history. This came after the 36-year-old suggested that he would take strict measures similar to those of El Salvador’s authoritarian president, Nayib Bukele.
Dalby expressed a sense of unity and determination, stating, “We will demonstrate our abilities and put him in his place.”
Source: theguardian.com
