In Zone 8, flyers with extortion and warnings have been detected, in Durán and in Sauces. In other cities this novelty has also been discovered.
The inhabitants and passers-by of sectors such as La Esperanza, June 5 and the San Vicente citadel, in the La Libertad canton, Santa Elena province, were surprised this week after finding leaflets thrown in the street. The sheets warn of alleged executions in case of providing support to certain criminal organizations.
In the pamphlets, gangs of the Lizards, Lobos, Tiguerones and Chone Killer that operate in the Litoral Penitentiary are mentioned.
The appearance of this type of pamphlet is not new. Similar situations have been reported at sites in Guayas and Los Ríos.
The Police, through its intelligence unit, carry out the procedures to determine the real support of said documents and called on the public not to fall into fear and carry out their activities in a normal way.
“The offender normally does not warn when he is going to commit the crime, he does it,” said Colonel José Vargas, commander of the Police in the Santa Elena Sub-Zone about this episode.
In Sauces 3, in the north of Guayaquil, the same thing happened 10 days ago. The Tiguerones allegedly warned other rival gangs that that area is already controlled by them and that those who collaborate with another group to try to win over that sector for drug micro-trafficking are going to be punished.
They did it with a pamphlet that was pasted in a corner business and that caused concern among the inhabitants of the area.
A woman said that she and her husband came to open their store at 07:00 last Wednesday and discovered the paper stuck on the wall.
Upon reading the threat, the residents immediately called the Police and since then the controls in the sector have been increased.
Neighbors have organized to buy security cameras for some blind spots and even house-to-house panic buttons have been activated.
“It caught our attention, we knew this was happening in Durán, but this is spreading,” said a very concerned resident, who for safety only spoke from behind a curtain.
They are marking the territory and we are in the middle of all this war, the situation is serious, said another resident.
Policemen withdrew the pamphlets and the Judicial Police were notified so that they could analyze the flyers in search of any clue that would allow them to capture those who pasted these sheets on the walls of Sauces 3 with threats, said Luis Bautista, the head of the Sauces district.
However, the institution has refused to give more details about these leaves that have also been detected in Durán.
In the neighboring canton the inhabitants go through a similar situation. For about two weeks it has been known that in various sectors brochures have been left with threats and extortion to owners of business premises so that they pay a “security fee.”
“Here in Spring 2 we live in anxiety, crime, drug trafficking, pamphlets that circulate threatening merchants, car theft, it is the daily bread,” complained a resident who preferred not to be identified for fear of reprisals .
However, it was known that other pamphlets were delivered to the checkpoints of various media outlets. In the flyers, the Chone Killer family allegedly clarifies that they have not made or will not make any threat or any type of extortion to the citizens or business premises of Durán.
“We are against abuse, extortion, as our philosophy stipulates,” says a sheet that was delivered to a canal gate by a man who got out of a black car.
The sheet mentions that the extortions would be ordered from the Guayaquil jail.
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In the province of Los Ríos, months ago, threatening pamphlets also appeared, which are being used to extort money from the inhabitants of Babahoyo.
The pamphlets are signed by alleged criminal organizations that ask for monthly payments to avoid damage to property and businesses. The authorities opened an investigation, but three months ago Colonel Patricio Romero, provincial commander of the Police, denied the veracity of the document and stated that it is a common crime that seeks to extort money from people by terrorizing them.
“But we are on the right track to determine who are the people who want to fish in troubled waters. I repeat, do not be scammed, do not be afraid of them, because they detect that you are afraid and you are a potential client as they manifest it, “said Romero.
The Police have asked the merchants that if they are threatened, they report it immediately. Weeks ago, several funeral home employees in Guayaquil who worked outside the morgue with the families of the inmates killed in the most recent massacre received calls and messages demanding a one-time contribution of $ 2,000, a kind of commission requested by the gangs from prison for generating so many clients to whom they offer funeral services outside of Criminalistics.
This week, Colonel José Salas said in Guayaquil that the case of the pamphlets is in the “investigation process” and he cannot advance results. (I)
Mario Twitchell is an accomplished author and journalist, known for his insightful and thought-provoking writing on a wide range of topics including general and opinion. He currently works as a writer at 247 news agency, where he has established himself as a respected voice in the industry.
