A taxi driver was shot in Guasmo sur 16 hours after President Guillermo Lasso arrived in the area to intervene as part of the actions that his government will carry out to counteract crime rates in Guayaquil and the rest of the country.
The incident occurred at noon this Saturday, April 9, at the Mariuxi Febres Cordero cooperative, a few blocks from the Playita del Guasmo, where on Friday the 8th the president gave details of the security plan for the Main Port.
Guayaquil, Durán and Samborondón make up Zone 8, a jurisdiction that registered 352 violent deaths as of Friday morning, an index that places it as one of the sectors with the most crimes in the country.
An unknown man approached José G., who was leaving his house and was going to get into his taxi, and shot him six times.
José Luis G. was taken to the Guasmo sur hospital, located two blocks from his home. Until yesterday afternoon his health status was unknown.
Despite the fact that President Lasso assured that agents from the Intervention and Rescue Group (GIR), the Special Operations Group (GOE) and other special units would be permanently patrolling the southern Guasmo until they regained control of the area, a tour of that sector evidenced the little presence of uniformed at least the morning of Saturday, April 9.
During the government event held on Friday afternoon at the Playita del Guasmo there were more than 200 police, military and even intelligence agents in the sector, since several officials arrived at that point in southern Guayaquil to publicize the security actions that will be adopted.
However, less than fourteen hours after the event, at 10:00 this Saturday, the presence of the agents was reduced. There were two patrol cars and two policemen on horseback at the site.
Two uniformed Mounted Police were inside the spa. There was a patrol car on the court where several people were shot on January 21, and another police van was at the end of Abdón Calderón Avenue, a few blocks from the Playita.
In addition to that, two Navy boats were sailing through the area of the estuary near Guasmo and Trinitaria Island.
However, in the rest of the populous sector there was no police protection. This was evidenced by a tour carried out by a team from EL UNIVERSO through the cooperatives of Guasmo Sur.
Residents believe that Lasso’s announcement will not stop the violence in their neighborhood and pointed out that what happened in La Playita happens every week in other cooperatives, so they really hope that more uniformed men will arrive and join the area.
“Look, there are eight policemen in the two cars, but none of them is on the corner checking those who pass by, they don’t ask for papers or anything. They are in the cars with the air conditioning chatting”, commented Silvia P., before the violent attack on the taxi driver.
She lives four blocks from La Playita and was leaving to take a tricycle to go to the Cristal cooperative.
Government plans to implement 30,000 new police officers in the next three years, as one of the actions to curb crime
He was going to visit his sister, who underwent surgery this week, and commented that in his relative’s neighborhood there have been even more deaths than in La Playita and that the police had not arrived there after the president’s announcement.
Lasso announced on Friday that the Police will be strengthened with more uniforms, better equipment and more technology in the next three years of his government, with an investment of 1.2 billion dollars.
He pointed out that at least 30,000 new police officers will be incorporated. These will be added —he said— to the 50,000 that already exist in the national territory.
In addition, he highlighted the importance of recovering public spaces and the cooperation of the community. So far in 2022, in Guayaquil, according to the Police, there are 69 recovered public spaces and 687 community assemblies have been held.
Víctor Hugo Zárate, police commander of Zone 8, said weeks ago in an interview with EL UNIVERSO that the only way to stop the violence in Guayaquil is to control the entry of drugs through the northern border. That as long as the cause of the problem is not controlled, violent deaths will continue to occur in Guayaquil.
Gustavo Zúñiga, president of the Corporation for Citizen Security of Guayaquil (CSCG), said the same thing. The official mentioned, days ago, that Guayaquil is not a drug producer; Guayaquil is polluted.
“The drug comes from other places by land, from the northern border and from the southern border. It has to cross almost the entire national territory to reach Guayaquil; the rest of the country accumulates the drug in Guayaquil. This city does not deserve to be classified as violent; He is a victim of drug trafficking. I wonder why Carchi, Esmeraldas, Imbabura, Pichincha, Sucumbíos or Loja allow drug trucks to pass through their territory towards Guayaquil and are not classified as drug trafficking zones,” said Zúñiga, who hopes that the president will strengthen control in the border, where it is known that there are more than 100 irregular crossings.
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/eluniverso/CX3DDZNWLRDEVOTABF6V2FNFLU.JPG)
He argued that, if the entry of drugs were controlled, the death figures in Zone 8 would immediately drop, since it is known that almost 90% of these are caused by drug trafficking.
Colonel in passive service Rodrigo Braganza, current head of Security at the University of Espiritu Santo Specialties (UEES), agrees with them and also believes that buying trucks and motorcycles will not solve the situation in Guayaquil.
“You must first raise the problems to see the causes and effects that have caused the increase in crimes, violent deaths. It is not enough just to buy trucks and motorcycles, ”he reflected.
He believes that the causes must be analyzed, among which would be the consumption of alcohol and drugs, the presence of chamberos in the streets, the prison crisis, the lack of technology (few cameras) and the little support of Justice for police work .
Braganza mentioned that reception centers for consumers and recyclers should be created. But he highlighted the technological implementation that is needed in the city.
Zárate then mentioned that 2,030 people had been arrested for crimes in Zone 8; 570 weapons had been seized, 72 gangs had been dismantled and 27 tons of drugs had been seized. (I)
Source: Eluniverso
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.
