Violence deepens in Ecuador; ten attacks registered in three hours

Ecuador is going through a new scene of violence that stems from prisons and drug trafficking gangs that seek to dominate the prisons and the different localities of the country.

On the night of October 31 and the early morning of November 1, there were different attacks in the cities of Guayaquil and Esmeraldas, which left two police officers dead, two wounded, and eight prison guards held by the convicts, four of whom have already been released.

“We have had reactions in the two cities. They are reactions to actions that the government has taken on organized crime.

“We are not going to lower our guard; these situations are not going to frighten and even less take away the spirit and morale of an institution that is formed to give tranquility and security to the Ecuadorian people”, said the Minister of the Interior, Juan Zapata.

The information provided by the National Police of Ecuador indicated that there were ten attacks registered in Guayaquil and Esmeraldas, including riots against the transfer of prisoners, detonation of explosives, attacks with firearms on uniformed officers, incineration of vehicles and detonation of explosives inside vehicles; all of them in less than three hours.

“We will not allow the law to be violated, and if we have to carry out operations against organized crime, we will do it with forcefulness and firmness,” added Fausto Salinas, general commander of the National Police, in a press conference.

He added that the transfers of persons deprived of their liberty, which are related to the attacks of this morning, even though they are a decision of the Service of Attention to Persons Deprived of Liberty (SNAI), will continue to be carried out by the public force.

On Tuesday, transfers will continue at the Penitenciaria del Litoral due to security measures and planned ward arrangements.

Salinas said intelligence operations against criminal groups would be carried out in the coming days. He also said that the attacks in the streets of the two cities were “spontaneous”.

PRESIDENT LASSO TO BE OUT OF THE COUNTRY AMID WAVE OF VIOLENCE

This same Tuesday, and after the attacks reported by the police forces, the Presidency of Ecuador notified the National Assembly that from November 2 until Sunday, November 6, President Guillermo Lasso would travel to Orlando, United States, for family and personal matters.

The notification, which is mandatory for the president if he will be absent from the country, specified that the trip’s costs will be covered by his own means and that he will travel with the “minimum security required”.

With information from Bloomberg