President of Ecuador faces his first crisis due to the onslaught of drug trafficking

Kidnappings of police, two bosses escaped from prison, riots in prisons and attacks with explosives in the streets: the drug trafficking puts the president in check Ecuador, Daniel Noboa, in his first crisis after assuming power in November.

For two days now, the South American country has been experiencing nights of terror. Seven police officers were kidnapped amid the state of emergency ordered by the government on Monday amid an outbreak of violence linked to drug trafficking.

“These are extremely difficult days because (…) the important decision is to confront these threats with terrorist characteristics head-on.”said the government’s Secretary of Communication, Roberto Izurieta, in an interview with the digital channel Visionarias.

The prison escape of Adolfo Macías, alias “Fito”, head of the main criminal gang known as Los Choneros, triggered the crisis on Sunday. This Tuesday, the authorities reported the escape of another drug leader: Fabricio Colón Pico, one of the leaders of Los Lobos, arrested on Friday for his alleged responsibility in a plan to assassinate the attorney general.

According to authorities, seven police officers were kidnapped in Machala (southwest), Quito and in the Province of Los Ríos (southwest). There were also explosions against a police station, the home of the president of the National Court and vehicles set on fire. There are no reports of deaths or injuries.

Noboa, 36 years old, is the youngest president of Ecuador and who came to power with the promise of attacking drug groups, linked to Colombian and Mexican cartels, with a strong hand.

In an unverified video spread on social networks, three agents appear sitting on the floor. One of them is forced to read a message addressed to the president: “You declared war and you are going to have war (…) You declared a state of exception; We declare spoils of war to police, civilians and military. “Any person found on the streets after eleven at night will be executed.”

The state of emergency applies for 60 days throughout the country, including prisons. The measure includes a six-hour curfew, between 11:00 p.m. and 5:00 a.m. local (04:00 and 10:00 GMT).

“We are not going to negotiate”

Police and military have been searching since Sunday for Fito, who was serving a 34-year sentence in the Guayaquil Regional Prison (southwest) for organized crime, drug trafficking and murder. The Choneros compete with twenty other gangs over drug trafficking routes in a war that is bleeding the country dry.

The Prosecutor’s Office brought charges against two prison officials for their alleged responsibility in the escape of the 44-year-old criminal, who obtained the title of lawyer in prison.

The presidential headquarters and metro stations in Quito are militarized.

The declaration of emergency allows the Armed Forces to intervene in the prison system, in which on Monday the retention of an undetermined number of guards was recorded, without the body that administers it (SNAI) indicating whether they were released.

“We are not going to negotiate with terrorists nor will we rest until we return peace to the Ecuadorians,” Noboa warned in a video through his Instagram account.

The president attributed the attack on the prisons as retaliation for his actions to “take back control” prison official.

Noboa announced last week that he will build two maximum security prisons in the provinces of Pastaza (east) and Santa Elena (southwest), in the style of those built by Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele in his war against gangs.

“Unprecedented” crisis

The kidnappings of police officers were added to violent acts in the coastal Esmeraldas (northwest and near the border with Colombia), one of the Ecuadorian provinces controlled by mafias.

Several people threw an explosive device near a police station and two vehicles were burned in other places, leaving no victims.

In Quito, the explosion of a car and the explosion of a device near a pedestrian bridge were also reported. Its mayor, Pabel Muñoz, asked the Executive to “militarization” of strategic facilities before the “unprecedented security crisis”.

Located in the middle of Colombia and Peru, the world’s largest cocaine producers, Ecuador went from being an island of peace to a drug war fort. 2023 closed with more than 7,800 homicides and 220 tons of drugs seized, new records in the nation of 17 million inhabitants.

Since 2021, clashes between prisoners have left more than 460 dead. In addition, homicides on the streets between 2018 and 2023 grew by almost 800% going from 6 to 46 per 100,000 inhabitants.