As armed gang storms Ecuador TV studio during live broadcast, a look at what’s happening in the country

Gunshots and yelling were heard during the live feed as the intruders accosted staffers of TC Television network, prompting the national police to evacuate the studio in Guayaquil. No casualties have been reported so far.

Alina Manrique, the head of news for TC Television, said she was in the control room at TC Television, across from the studio, when the masked men burst into the building. One of them pointed a gun at her head and told her to get on the floor, Manrique was quoted by news agency The Associated Press as saying.

The incident was aired live, although the station’s signal was cut off after about 15 minutes. Manrique said some of the assailants ran from the studio and tried to hide when they realized they were surrounded by police.

“I am still in shock” Manrique told The Associated Press in a phone interview. “Everything has collapsed …. All I know is that its time to leave this country and go very far away.”

The attackers entered through Gamavision’s reception, assaulting staff there and leaving dynamite behind, TC news coordinator and reporter Leonardo Flores Moreno told news agency Reuters in a message.

“We were in a meeting and they alerted us and we were able to hide,” said Flores, who was not on the sound stage during the takeover, but said two people at TC had been injured. “We don’t know what is happening, people are nervous, there are many colleagues from Gama and TC who are hiding,” Flores said, adding he could hear helicopters overhead.

In a message on Instagram just hours after the attack, President Daniel Noboa vowed not to rest until he “brings back peace to all Ecuadorians”. He announced his government’s commitment to confronting the rising crime rates, but the wave of attacks that ensued painted a complex picture of the challenges faced.

 

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What has been happening in Ecuador?

Ecuador has been rocked by a series of attacks, including the abductions of several police officers, in the wake of a notorious gang leader’s escape from prison. President Daniel Noboa on Monday declared a national state of emergency, a measure that lets authorities suspend people’s rights and mobilize the military in places like prisons.

Shortly after the gunmen stormed the TV station, Noboa issued another decree designating 20 drug trafficking gangs operating in the country as terrorist groups and authorizing Ecuador’s military to “neutralize” them within the bounds of international humanitarian law.

Thirteen arrests have been confirmed by the police, as images circulated on social media depicting young men detained and facing terrorism charges.

Seven police officers were kidnapped in three separate incidents in the southern city of Machala, Quito and Los Rios province, police said earlier. The police said there were explosions in the provinces of Esmeraldas and Los Rios, while mayor’s offices in the cities of Cuenca and Quito confirmed others and the attorney general’s office said it was investigating one in Guayaquil. Local media have also reported explosions in Loja and Machala.

Prisons agency SNAI said earlier on Tuesday a group of prisoners escaped from a penitentiary in Riobamba, including accused gang member Colon Pico, who was allegedly involved in an attack plot against the attorney general. Seventeen of the 39 escapees have been recaptured, the prosecutor’s office said.

Eleven prison guards who had been taken hostage over the past two days have been released, SNAI added, but 139 guards and other staff are still being held.

Los Choneros is one of the Ecuadorian gangs that authorities consider responsible for a spike in violence, much of tied to drug trafficking, that reached a new level last year with the assassination of presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio. The gang has links with Mexico’s Sinaloa cartel, according to authorities.

The whereabouts of Macías are unknown. Prosecutors opened an investigation and charged two guards in connection with his alleged escape, but neither the police, the corrections system, nor the federal government confirmed whether the prisoner fled the facility or might be hiding in it.

In February 2013, he escaped from a maximum security facility but was recaptured weeks later.

What has been the impact?

Ecuadorean sovereign bonds fell as concern over the violence spread to financial markets. The 2035 bond fell 1.125 cents to 36.25 cents on the dollar, while the 2030 dropped 1 cent to 48.25 and the 2040 lost half a cent to trade at 32.5 cents according to LSEG data. Spreads widened 83 basis points to 2,039 bps in JPMorgan’s EMBIG index, reversing all the gains of the year in a rally that began in mid-December.