Ecuador’s armed forces on Thursday were engaged in a brutal standoff with organized crime groups, deploying more than 22,400 soldiers to put down a campaign of terror waged by gangs that had claimed 16 lives.
With an armed presence on the streets, patrols by land, sea and air, random body and vehicle searches, prison raids and the enforcement of a curfew, the government of Ecuadoran President Daniel Noboa has vowed not to yield in its “war” with 22 criminal gangs.
“They wanted to instill fear, but they aroused our ire,” Ecuadoran Minister of Defense Gian Carlo Loffredo wrote on social media. “They believed they would subdue an entire country, but forgot that the armed forces are trained for war.”
Photo: Reuters
Since Monday, drug cartels have been waging a bloody campaign of kidnappings and attacks in response to a government crackdown on organized crime, prompting Noboa to declare the country to be in a “state of war.”
Gang members were holding 178 guards and administrative personnel hostage at several penitentiaries, said the SNAI prison authority, which also reported ongoing riots and inmates shooting at members of the armed forces.
Police said that the death toll rose to 16 late on Wednesday with a “terrorist” attack on a discotheque in the Amazon that claimed two lives and injured nine people.
“Yield to evil? Never,” the 36-year-old Noboa, in office since November, said in a video message broadcast on television on Thursday, adding: “Fight tirelessly always.”
The US Department of State on Thursday said that a top US military officer and senior officials would travel to Ecuador “in the coming weeks” to bolster Noboa’s fight.
The UN and China have also expressed concern and offered support to Noboa.
On Thursday, many shops and businesses in Ecuador’s main cities remained shuttered.
“We are afraid, afraid that when least expected, they [the gangsters] will do the same thing again,” said Ines Macas, a 69-year-old homemaker in Quito.
Public transport was reduced to a trickle, schools and universities closed and people were urged to work from home.
Terrified citizens are bombarded on a near daily basis with videos on social media of purported assassinations of members of the security forces.
Police have not confirmed any executions and say that the videos are part of a disinformation campaign.
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