With thousands of troops deployed across Ecuador, the government yesterday Thursday continued its wide-ranging operation against criminal gangs linked to drug trafficking that have terrorized the country for four days, while in this peculiar “war” which he declared, will also receive the support of the USA.

More than 22,400 troops have been deployed and are carrying out air, sea and land patrols, making arrests and conducting prison operations: the government of Ecuador’s new president Daniel Noboa appears unwilling to bow to attempts by criminal gangs to intimidate it.

“They wanted to sow terror, but they awakened our anger. They thought they would subjugate an entire country and forgot that the armed forces are trained for war,” Ecuador’s Defense Minister Gian Carlo Loffredo warned yesterday on social media.

In its battle against gangs, Ecuador will receive the support of the US. Gen. Laura Richardson, head of the US Southern Command, and senior civilian officials will travel to the country in the coming weeks “to discuss with their Ecuadorian counterparts how to work together effectively to address the threat of transnational criminal organizations,” she announced yesterday. the State Department.

Prison guards hostages

While the streets are being patrolled by the police and the military, the situation in the prisons is much more difficult, with the prison management service (SNAI) yesterday speaking of another 39 prison guards who were taken hostage in seven prisons. A total of 178 prison guards and administrative staff are being held hostage.

SNAI also announced that prisoners are opening fire on the armed forces from prisons.

Yesterday Noboa said that, to deal with overcrowding in prisons, he intends to send 1,500 Colombian prisoners to the border, citing “international agreements”. Colombia, for its part, rejected this unilateral measure and emphasized that Ecuador will actually release these prisoners.

In Ecuador there are 36 prisons with a maximum capacity of 30,200 people. A census carried out in 2022 showed that the prisoners in Ecuador reach 31,300, of which 3,200 foreigners.

Although life is slowly returning to normal in the country’s biggest cities, many shops remain closed, public transport is running sporadically, universities and schools have switched to distance learning, and telecommuting is now the norm.

Ecuador’s state television network IC, based in Guayaquil, began rebroadcasting a program at noon yesterday, where on Tuesday gunmen stormed the set during a live broadcast and held journalists hostage, injuring two workers. “Thank you all for the messages of support! (…) We thank the police and the army for their professionalism and their impeccable work”, commented a visibly moved presenter.

The wave of violence that is shaking the entire country began after the escape on Sunday from the prison of Guayaquil of the notorious head of the Tsoneros gang, Adolfo Masias also known as “Fito”, which was followed by riots in several prisons, hostages and attacks with explosives.

The 36-year-old president Noboa responded decisively. On Monday, he declared a state of emergency in the country for 60 days, a measure that applies even to prisons that have been reduced to strongholds of drug gangs.

Noboa was elected in the fall promising to restore security to the country, once an oasis of peace in the region but which has turned into a transit hub for cocaine produced in neighboring Peru and Colombia.

Later he estimated that the country “is at war” and called for “conscription”. “We cannot retreat in front of these terrorist groups”, which are estimated to be around 20 and count, according to the youngest president in the country’s history, “more than 20,000 members”.

The gangs fight each other for control of the areas, but are united in their war against the state.

“Tattoo Hunt”

Every day, videos are circulating on social media showing brutal killings of members of the order forces, looting and attacks. The police deny the authenticity of the videos that intensify the anxiety of the citizens.

According to the Primicias website, which refers to it as a “tattoo hunt”, law enforcement forces deployed in Guayaquil, Ecuador’s major port that has been turned into a criminal stronghold, routinely check people’s tattoos to see if they belong to some gang.

During the last five years the homicide rate per 100,000 inhabitants in Ecuador increased from 6 to reach 46 in 2023.