Before every action there is a reaction. With this expression, the police chief of the Esmeraldas subzone, Julio Velázquez, tried to explain yesterday that after the three tons of drugs seized this year in this border province with Colombia, organized crime is responding with violence. The massacre in the craft port, which was captured by security cameras, is of further concern in a country that sees acts of terrorism rapidly escalating day by day.

It is not the same speed that they perceive in the state reaction. President Guillermo Lasso offered to work with the police and armed forces to catch those responsible for the crime.

That they are captured and condemned is the point. But there is still much to do.

The fear that the residents of Esmeraldas live with is not only related to last Tuesday’s massacre. Murderers, beheadings, extortion, drug trafficking, kidnappings are no secret in the province.

Esmeralda has ceased to be an always happy countryas their eulogy says, and many preferred to emigrate, seeing that everything that happens cancels the future.

To catch those responsible for the slaughter in the port and serve the sentence; that those who committed the heinous crime against the three young singers should also be brought to justice; May those who cut off a man’s head, those who shoot and those who extort and prevent any worker or merchant from growing up and living with dignity be punished.

If every action provokes a reaction, let the authorities react against those who terminate lives and opportunities for progress. With fear there are no options for Ecuador.

Today, the increasingly present motto is “Esmeraldas free for the rebel and for the great rebel”, without pain, without crime, without injustice, this is how we Ecuadorians want to live. We are all Esmeraldas, we are all touched by violence and we all rise up to demand a response and safety. (OR)