At least five journalists from radio and television stations in Ecuador received letters containing low-powered improvised explosive devices, one of which detonated on Monday, slightly injuring its recipient, authorities and target media said.

Interior Minister Juan Zapata clarified that three files were sent to Guayaquil (southwest) and two others to the capital Quito from the community of Kinsaloma, in the coastal province of Los Rios.

The alarm was raised when the regional private television network TV Ecuavisa reported that a reporter had received an envelope containing a USB key, which exploded as soon as he inserted it into a port on his computer.

The journalist, based in Guayaquil, suffered minor injuries to his hand and face, said Javier Chago, a police officer.

The explosion took place in the newsroom, without injuring anyone else or causing serious material damage. According to police officer Chago, the explosive used may have been ‘RDX’, in other words ‘military type’.

Explosive envelopes were also sent to journalists from the television networks TC Televisión and Teleamazonas, radio station EXA and a journalist-presenter of various media.

The letter to the latter was intercepted by police before it reached the recipient, according to Mr. Zapata, who clarified that the explosive capsule was “practically the same in all five locations” where letters were found.

It was a “message with the aim, quite clearly, to silence the journalists” who were targeted, the interior minister added.

The prosecutor’s office has begun an investigation into terrorism, a crime that carries a 13-year prison sentence in Ecuador.

The organization defending the freedom of the press, Fundamedios, described these attacks as “a new escalation of violence against the press, alarming, unacceptable, which violates freedom of expression and requires the immediate intervention of the state”.

Growing insecurity

In a statement, the government, through its general secretariat of communication, expressed solidarity, rejecting “categorically any kind of violent action” and “attempt to intimidate journalists and media”.

Last year, the national TV network RTS came under fire, while in 2020, an explosive device was planted targeting the TV network Teleamazonas.

The port of Guayaquil, Ecuador’s second largest city and financial capital, where drug trafficking has become gangrenous, now faces an increasingly acute problem with violent crime. Criminal gangs, some linked to Mexican cartels, are fighting for control of drug trafficking routes to markets in Europe and the US.

Between Colombia and Peru, the two countries where the largest quantities of cocaine are produced in the world, Ecuador has been transformed in recent years from part of the transit routes into a major hub for the trafficking of the white powder to the European and American markets.

The authorities proceeded to confiscate a record amount in 2021: it approached 210 tons. In 2022, seizures exceeded 200 tons for the second consecutive year.

At the same time, the homicide rate took off, reaching 25 per 100,000 inhabitants in 2022, compared to 14 in 2021.