2024-01-10 20:31:53
By Patrick Bèle
Published 7 minutes ago, Updated 7 minutes ago
A hostage-taking on a live Ecuadorian television channel. REUTERS TV/REUTERS
DECRYPTION – Chaos reigns, the rule of law has disappeared, cocaine mafias are corrupting institutions.
Since January 7, Ecuador has been plunged into a serious security crisis. Two major drug traffickers managed to flee the prison where they were incarcerated even though the newly elected president, Daniel Noboa, wanted to place them in high security establishments. The two mafia leaders are José Adolfo Macias, alias Fito, leader of the Choneros gang, and Fabricio Colon Pico, leader of the Lobos.
Both escaped from Guayaquil prison before the army intervened. It is very likely that they were informed of their imminent transfer by members of the prison administration. Fito is suspected of having ordered the assassination, last August, of a presidential candidate: Fernando Villavicencio.
Also read: Ecuador in “internal armed conflict”: the power of drug traffickers facing a disarmed and corrupt state
Clashes between gangs, police and the army have left several dozen dead since Sunday. Tuesday evening, in Guayaquil, a group of drug traffickers succeeded to take participants in a channel show hostage live…
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