It has been a long time since Ecuador has been in the international news with such intensity as it has in the last two weeks. What if an explosive attack; What if it is a kidnapping for ransom or hostage taking on a TV channel; what if a state of emergency and then “internal armed conflict”. That the prosecutor was killed in the sun and in a busy area, or that another judicial official fell or was thrown from the eighth floor. And finally, a mega-operation in the interior of Argentina, where an apparent refuge, thousands of kilometers away, of the intimus of a fighter in this absurd war was discovered.

State, politics and war

Interpol, the international police, is the protagonist of these stories related to Ecuador, Panama, the United States and Argentina. In Colombia and Peru, their armies and special police guard the common border to prevent the “spillover” of violence, as if they are oblivious to what is happening, since they have undoubtedly been part of this process of social decay. And even in Chile, which has always had excellent relations with this country, its president quickly clarified that the criminal violence they also suffer will not turn them into Ecuador, as if we were the worst outcast on the continent.

It is painful for those who, like me, have dedicated their lives to communication, to see all this arrangement around this small country, the former island of peace, which for decades resisted the rampage of drugs that grew and bled in neighboring countries. That he united as a fist when he was attacked from the south and did not let go of that fist until a definitive border agreement was reached. That despite being one of the first American epicenters of the COVID-19 pandemic, with the heartbreaking scenario of Guayaquil that March 2020, he knew how to get up and move forward, after burying thousands of dead.

Not one more

We are good at making requests, but not at paying

They call it a den of violence, and it is also a country with a multi-climate and the greatest variety of birds. From the beautiful landscapes of the Andes and the beautiful beaches, where, at the same time, you can enjoy the miracle of Manabi food, undoubtedly one of the best in the world. When it is also the land of Albert Spencer and Jefferson Pérez.

I know this very well: the news is a photograph of the moment, and ours now is a horror. As I also know that news with bad connotations circulate more and more easily due to this human condition of tendency towards the negative and skepticism towards the good. I also know that well-explained contexts allow for better information development and avoid injustice.

Now this storm, this sad moment of world fame will pass and we will again be a small country whose events do not deserve a single note in the regional environment in which we traditionally find ourselves. And I prefer it that way, instead of being known to the world for the terror and blood left behind by groups of gang members who have evolved into gangs, who despite being called military targets, continue to challenge the government.

I haven’t had such a hard time writing about my country in a long time. It hurts to see what the interests of a few have allowed to happen. But I know him and I know that he will rise from this. (OR)