Ecuador's Army Chief Designates Criminal Groups Operating in Country as 'Military Target'
© AP Photo / Cesar Munoz
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MEXICO CITY (Sputnik) - The rioting in Ecuador came as authorities raided jails for weapons and to disperse gang members. Police searched the Guayaquil prison on Sunday but failed to find Los Choneros' leader Jose Adolfo Macias Villamar, known as Fito, the country's most dangerous criminal.
Ecuadorian Armed Forces Joint Command chief RADM Jaime Vela Eraso on Tuesday, following a security council meeting, declared 22 criminal groups operating in the country as a "military target" and said there would be no negotiations with them.
"Daniel Noboa, the president of the republic, has set a very clear mission for us in his decree No. 111. From now on, every terrorist group identified in the above-mentioned decree becomes a military target. The present and future of our country are at stake, and no act of terrorism will make us surrender. We are not going to retreat or negotiate," the army chief said in a video address posted by the Ecuadorian presidency on X.
The country's police said on X that at least ten people, including two police officers, have been killed in unrest in the Ecuadorian city of Guayaquil and the neighboring town of Nobol.
A police spokesperson said earlier on Tuesday during a news conference by the mayor of Guayaquil that at least eight people have been killed, and another two have been injured, with a police officer having suffered a gunshot wound during the unrest in the city. He added that two vehicles and two motorbikes have been set on fire, and 14 people have been detained for various crimes.
Following the declaration of a state of internal armed conflict in the republic by Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa, Ecuador's National Assembly, the country's parliament, backed executive action to combat crime groups and vowed pardons and amnesties for police and army personnel if it would be necessary to ensure security.
"We express our support for the armed forces, the national police and all officials responsible for upholding the constitution and the law. We recognize and appreciate your dedication and efforts to maintain security, peace and the lives of citizens. This support includes pardons and/or amnesties where necessary to enable these structures to function," the parliament said in a statement on X.
The country's prosecutor's office said in a statement on X that 13 detained men, who had broken into the TV station of Ecuadorian broadcaster TC in Guayaquil and crashed its live broadcast while wearing masks and carrying weapons and had been apprehended by police special forces, would be charged with terrorism. The office said no one was injured in the incident, adding that a hearing against the detained people will take place in the next few hours.
Earlier on Tuesday, Noboa said that the country was in a state of internal armed conflict amid the hostage-taking riots in various cities and prisons and designated several organized crime groups as "terrorist organizations." Noboa ordered the army to "neutralize" criminal groups operating in the country.
Peru Deploys Police Special Forces to Border With Ecuador Amid Internal Conflict
Following the president's declaration, Peruvian Interior Minister Victor Torres Falcon ordered that the country's police special forces be immediately deployed to the border with neighboring Ecuador to reinforce security. Peruvian Prime Minister Alberto Otarola later said that Lima would introduce a state of emergency at the border with Ecuador amid the unrest in the neighboring country.
On Monday, Noboa declared a 60-day state of emergency in Ecuador following prison riots and the escape of a major gang leader.
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The unrest came as authorities raided prisons in search of weapons and in an effort to disperse gang members to different facilities. During Sunday's search of the Guayaquil prison, law enforcement officials failed to find the leader of the Los Choneros gang, Jose Adolfo Macias Villamar, also known as Fito, who is considered the most dangerous criminal in the country.
"On the morning of January 9, clashes broke out between inmates, the national police and prison staff at Chimborazo Prison No. 1. Following the incident, Colon P., who was deprived of liberty and was in the prison, escaped from custody with other inmates," Ecuador's National Service for Comprehensive Assistance to Adult Persons Deprived of Liberty and Teenage Offenders of Ecuador (SNAI) said in a statement on X.
Following the incident, 12 people who fled with Pico have already been detained in hot pursuit, but the gang's leader himself managed to escape, with Ecuador's police and army continuing the search for him, SNAI added.
SNAI also said that inmates of five Ecuadorian prisons in the provinces of Azuay, Canar, Napo, Tungurahua and Cotopaxi had taken 125 prison security personnel and 14 administrative staff hostages. SNAI added that security forces' operations at prisons in the provinces of Chimborazo and Napo have allowed the release of 11 hostages since the riots began.
The Ecuadorian Ministry of Education on Tuesday suspended full-time education and announced the transition to online education at all education institutions across the country through January 12 amid unrest in the country.
