The government of Ecuador has reported the release of numerous hostages from prisons controlled by gangs, following a week of intense violence in the South American nation.
The Ecuadorian presidency declared on social media on Saturday night that all hostages have been released.
The exact number of rescued prisoners from the country’s overcrowded prisons was uncertain, but the government recently reported that 158 prison guards and 20 other employees were being held. Videos on social media depicted frightened prison guards being held and intimidated by gang members armed with machetes, who had taken control of several detention centers in Ecuador.
The sibling of a prison guard who was kidnapped in Ambato, a city located 95 miles south of Quito, Ecuador’s capital, confirmed that their family member was freed on Saturday afternoon. The following morning, the relative expressed gratitude that everyone was unharmed and their brother was back home with them. There were also reports of security forces intervening in multiple large prisons where inmates had rebelled.
The chaos in Ecuador started on Monday when a well-known gang leader named Fito disappeared from his prison cell. It is still unknown where he is. Over the next few days, the entire country experienced a surge of violence and unrest, with gang members setting fires, assaulting law enforcement, and placing explosives in cars. This was one of the most intense displays of violence in Ecuador in recent times.
The president of Ecuador, Daniel Noboa, announced that his country is now in a state of “internal armed conflict” and has authorized a large-scale operation by the police and army to combat gang activity. As of now, 1,105 individuals have been detained and five suspected “terrorists” have been fatally shot, while two police officers have also died, according to official reports.
In the city of Guayaquil, which has been heavily impacted, The Guardian observed heavily armed air force and police special forces entering several homes on Thursday night using battering rams and bolt cutters. Two individuals suspected to be part of Los Águilas (the Eagles), one of the 22 criminal groups labeled as terrorist organizations by Noboa’s government, were apprehended in a two-story house.
Ecuador has long been considered one of Latin America’s safest countries but its murder rate has quadrupled since 2018, in large part because of a vicious squabble for control of cocaine trafficking routes used to smuggle drugs to Europe and the US.
Noboa stated in a BBC interview on Friday that he is committed to preventing his country from becoming a “narco-state” and believes that taking strict measures is the only solution to achieve this objective.
According to Noboa in an interview with Telemundo, we are not actively seeking and murdering individuals, but we are engaged in a war against well-equipped and organized individuals who have support from both domestic and international financial sources. This group operates under a structure of terror and criminal activity that extends beyond the borders of Ecuador.
Source: theguardian.com
