Ecuador takes to the streets with the army to face a coup rebellion by drug trafficking cartels

Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa said this on Tuesday terrorists to drug cartels and, with a drastic decision, he ordered the deployment of the armed forces on the streets together with the police to fight the mafias and guarantee control of the country.

In a harsh decree, the new president, who on Monday declared a 60-day “state of exception” following this criminal dispute, denounced the existence “of an internal armed conflict” and asked “to identify twenty groups of the transnational organized crime such as terrorist organizations and belligerent non-state actors”.

The document orders “to have the mobilization and intervention of the Armed Forces and the National Police in the national territory to guarantee sovereignty and territorial integrity” threatened by “transnational organized crime, terrorist organizations and belligerent non-state actors”. A virtual state of war.

The measure was adopted this mid-Tuesday an environment of chaos and violence which affected a large part of the country, with a wave of attacks, explosions and kidnappings of at least seven police officers and torrents of fake videos of alleged massacres which terrified the population.

The escalation of the crisis began to become evident a few hours ago when the event became known Jailbreaking of the drug leader José Adolfo Macías Villamar, alias Fito, considered the most dangerous criminal in the country. He is the leader of the Los Choneros mafia which competes for power with Los Lobos, both prebendary organizations of the Mexican cartels, Jalisco Nueva Generción and Sinaloa respectively.

The perpetrator was named as possibly responsible for the murder murder by a hitman of presidential candidate and journalist Fernando Villavicencio during the campaign, who he questioned for citing him in his investigations.

The problem of prisons

Noboa’s decision this Tuesday is a big step forward of the State of exception which authorized the military to intervene in penitentiary centers to facilitate the transfer of mafia bosses.

An operation that drug traffickers try to prevent because they use prisons as command centers. The government’s intention is isolate them in maximum security prisons, like La Roca in the city of Guayaquil, where the criminal Fito would be sent.

Since the head of state announced a state of emergency throughout Ecuador on Monday, news has spread of kidnappings of police officers and of a riot that occurred in the early hours of Tuesday in Riobamba prison, which facilitated the attack.escape of 39 prisoners. Among them Fabricio Colón Pico, regional leader of the Los Lobos criminal gang and accused by Attorney General Diana Salazar of having prepared an alleged attempt on his life. The official also linked Colón Pico to Villavicencio’s assassination.

The most shocking of these intimidating episodes was the entry this Tuesday of armed men into the TC television channel in Guayaquil, where journalists were broadcasting the moment of the assault live in front of the cameras. There one of them warned him “Don’t mess with the mafias”.

The images show how men armed with explosives and guns, very excited and always moving as if they were dancing, threaten the staff of the television network. Continuous shots and screams are heard. According to the Primicias website, other media in the country have ordered the evacuation of their staff. Shortly thereafter, police officers entered the facility and arrested the criminals.

Don’t negotiate with terrorists

Noboa said in a statement that “the time is over when those convicted of drug trafficking, hitmen and organized crime dictated to the government in power what to do.” This Tuesday he reiterated it “We will not negotiate with terrorists.” The Minister of the Interior, Mónica Palencia, underlined that the government is working “to restore a state of peace” and that “at this moment prisons are the specific center of attention”.

Since Monday afternoon, the National Police has reported the kidnapping of seven of its officers in various cities across the country. Furthermore, regarding the arrest of two individuals who had placed a explosive in front of a police building in Quito, the nation’s capital. The two detainees were carrying firearms and 16 explosive devices.

In the cities of Guayaquil, Esmeraldas, Cuenca and Azogues, local authorities confirmed a series of criminal acts that included explosions and burning vehicles. The municipality of the city of Cuenca specified that next to the area of ​​the explosion there was the message ““We don’t want transfers.”

Criminals have released threatening videos against the president in which gangsters warn they will turn “prisons into battlefields.” The entire civilian population of Ecuador is advised not to leave their homes at night because any police and military personnel we find will be killed,” says a masked man.