by A sense of fear gripped Ecuador on Wednesday, with streets empty, schools closed and many people afraid to leave their homes after the disappearance of two gang leaders sparked prison riots, police kidnappings and the assault on a canal. of TV. .
Even for a country accustomed to violence, the events that shook Ecuador this week were shocking.
“I feel like the world I knew before is gone,” said María Ortega, a school teacher in Guayaquil, a sprawling coastal city. “You can know how things start, but not how they will end.”
It began with the outbreak of violence in prisons across the South American country when soldiers stormed a prison complex in Guayaquil after the disappearance of a powerful gang leader, Adolfo Macías, from his cell over the weekend. Inmates at several prisons took prison guards captive and dozens of detainees escaped, including another prominent gang leader.
The violence soon spread to cities and towns, where drug gangs proliferate. Explosions were reported, police officers were kidnapped, hospitals were seized and cars were set on fire. People rushed home, climbing onto the backs of trucks as bus service stopped in Guayaquil, and police and armed people exchanged gunfire, including near a school.
At the end of a bloody day, at least 11 people had died throughout the country, according to authorities, among them a well-known musician, Diego Gallardo, 31, who was in his car on the way to pick up his son from school. in Guayaquil when he was hit by a stray bullet.
The unrest peaked on Tuesday afternoon, when armed men briefly took over TC Televisión in Guayaquil during a live broadcast, taking presenters and staff hostage and demanding to convey a message to the government not to interfere “with the mafias.”
Shortly after, the country’s president, Daniel Noboa, declared an “internal armed conflict” and ordered the military to “neutralize” the country’s two dozen gangs, which the government labeled “terrorist organizations.”
Noboa framed the statement as a defining moment.
“We are fighting for the peace of the nation,” the president said in a radio address on Wednesday, “also fighting against terrorist groups that today are made up of 20,000 people. They want me to call them organized crime groups because it’s easier. When they are terrorists and when we live in a state of conflict, of war, other laws apply.”
In Ecuador, the presidential statement was widely seen as a turning point in the crisis that has engulfed the once peaceful nation for the past two years, as the country of nearly 18 million people has been dominated by an increasingly violent drug trafficking industry. more powerful.
International drug cartels from as far away as Albania have joined forces with local prisons and street gangs, unleashing a wave of violence unprecedented in the country’s recent history. Homicide rates have skyrocketed to record levels.
Noboa marked the beginning of a new fight to confront the gangs and restore peace to Ecuador.
“We are not going to let society die slowly,” he said.
The commander of Ecuador’s armed forces, Jaime Vela Erazo, said criminal groups, which he called terrorists, had become military targets. He made clear the government’s intention to apply a heavy hand.
“We will not back down and we will not negotiate,” he said in a statement. “Goodness, justice and order cannot ask permission or bow their heads before terrorists.”
Later on Wednesday, Vela announced that since armed conflict was declared, police and armed forces had killed five people with gang ties and arrested 329.
Across the country, many were divided over what the government’s move might mean: Some expressed support and called it a much-needed step toward ending gang violence, and others saw it as a slippery slope toward a state militarized that attacks innocent civilians. .
“The declaration of internal conflict worries me enormously,” said Katherine Casanova, a 28-year-old social worker who said her family had recently been attacked by armed men near Guayaquil. “Although in the midst of pain I want to cling to something that makes me feel a minimum of security, I fear the repercussions of declaring an internal conflict, of militarizing. “It will probably be my people who, once again, are among the dead.”
Noboa’s statement came on the heels of a proposed referendum that would lengthen sentences for crimes such as murder and arms trafficking, target money launderers and create a special judicial system to protect judges.
Many have compared Noboa’s proposed referendum and enhanced security measures to President Nayib Bukele’s autocratic campaign in El Salvador against drug gangs: a comparison. has made himself.
The government’s measures are “much more aggressive” than previous measures to quell gang violence, said Fernando Carrión of the Latin American Faculty of Social Sciences, a regional research and analysis group that studies violence and drug trafficking.
“The population welcomes this decision,” he said, but added that tackling such large and entrenched gangs would be a challenge.
Experts said drawing the military into the conflict could lead to prolonged violence and bloodshed, as happened in Colombia, where Plan Colombia, a U.S.-backed policy that took hold about 20 years ago, has been criticized by treat a large part of the population. as internal enemies.
“The situation could continue and get worse, a situation that has already reached the worst point in its history,” said Glaeldys González, a member of the International Crisis Group, a nonprofit think tank that focuses on Ecuador.
“What I see as most worrying,” he added, “is the president’s declaration of an internal armed conflict; the question is how that is going to translate into practice.”
“Who will be classified as a ‘terrorist’ or a member of a ‘terrorist group’?” Ms. González said. “It’s an open question and the military appears to have discretion over who the targets are.”
On Wednesday, even as the streets were virtually silent, the country’s prisons had not yet been secured and dozens of guards and staff were still being held hostage, according to prison authorities.
As gangs proliferated, the country’s dilapidated prisons served as headquarters and recruiting centers. About a quarter of the country’s 36 prisons are believed to be controlled by gangs.
Macías, leader of a group called Los Choneros, disappeared Sunday from the Guayaquil prison that his gang primarily controls. Fabricio Colón Pico, leader of another gang, Los Lobos, disappeared early Tuesday from a prison in the central city of Riobamba. Both men were still at large on Wednesday.
On the streets, people were divided over the government’s promise to confront gangs and retake control of the prisons that have been incubators for much of the country’s unrest.
“I’m scared, I’m anxious,” said María José Chancay, a music producer from Guayaquil, whose friend, Mr. Gallardo, died while caught in crossfire on Tuesday. “I feel that the measures taken by the authorities are not going to be of any use and are going to bring more violence.”
But others said the government needed to take a firm hand if the country wanted to stop the bloodshed. Videos posted Wednesday and shared on social media showed shoppers at a grocery store in Guayaquil clapping and cheering as a procession of soldiers entered.
“I have mixed feelings” about the security measures, said Ms. Ortega, the school teacher. “I must admit that although it is scary, I feel relieved. And I feel terrible for thinking and feeling that.”
José María León Cabrera contributed reports from Quito, Ecuador and Thalie Ponce from Guayaquil, Ecuador.
