The Violence in Ecuador not only does not stop, but it worsens. After an intense day, the president of the country, Daniel Noboahas been forced to declare the “internal armed conflict” in the country, identifying around twenty armed groups as terrorist organizations. At least ten people have died in the last day, among them two agents of the National Police of Ecuador, and three have been injured, within the framework of the spiral of violence triggered by the activity of “narcoterrorist” groups which has so far resulted in 70 detainees.

Also on Tuesday a group of hooded men attacked a live television channel, causing a kidnapping with hostages that ultimately ended without fatalities. The current violence in Ecuador is not new: last summer, the former president, Guillermo Lasso, was forced to decree the Exception status in the country, after shooting murder of one of the candidates to the elections from which Noboa emerged president. A week later, another Ecuadorian political leader, Pedro Brionesfollowed the same path.

The problem of security and violence in Ecuador—murders, extortions, riots…—has worsened in the last two years. In 2022, The country closed with the highest rate of violent deaths in its history (25.32 per 100,000 inhabitants), the vast majority associated with organized crime and drug trafficking, according to the Government. These mafias have gained presence on the coast, being one of the main exit routes for cocaine that reaches Europe and North America.

What does the declaration of armed conflict imply?

In response, Noboa signed the decree that declared the “internal armed conflict“, as reported through the social network X. The aforementioned document, which came into force this Tuesday, implies the immediate mobilization and intervention of security forces in the national territory against organized crime. Furthermore, Admiral Jaime Vela Erazo, head of the Joint Command of the Armed Forces of Ecuador, explained this Tuesday that, from this moment on, “each terrorist group identified in the aforementioned decree [de emergencia] has become a military objective.”

The aforementioned decree orders “to arrange the mobilization and intervention of the Armed Forces and National Police in the national territory to guarantee sovereignty and territorial integrity against transnational organized crime, terrorist organizations and belligerent non-state actors as set forth in this Executive Decree.” In addition, it enables the Armed Forces to “execute military operations, under international humanitarian law and respecting human rights, to neutralize to the identified groups”.

Terrorist organizations in Ecuador

He decree identifies to the following “transnational organized crime groups such as terrorist organizations and non-state actors belligerents”:

  • Eagles
  • ÁguilarKiller
  • AK-47
  • Choneros
  • Corvichero
  • Dark Knights
  • ChoneKiller
  • Fatal Cubans
  • Ugly Barracks
  • Gangster Kater
  • Piler Lizards
  • Wolves
  • Latin Kings
  • The Sharks
  • The p.27
  • Mafia Clover
  • Mafia 18
  • Patterns
  • R7
  • Tiguerones

In any case, he points out that the Public and State Security Council You may update the list taking into account new technical reports. At the moment there have been 70 arrests, as well as the seizure of eight explosive devices, 15 Molotov cocktails, nine firearms and more than 300 rounds of ammunition. Likewise, he has highlighted that they have been six vehicles and six motorcycles confiscated, while 17 people who escaped from prison have been arrested. Finally, three agents kidnapped during the incidents have been released by security forces, according to figures from the National Police of Ecuador in your account on the social network X.

What happens in Ecuador’s prisons

The trigger for this police mobilization began on Sunday, when Adolfo Macías, alias ‘Fito’the dangerous leader of the criminal gang The Chonerosescaped from prison Guayaquil Regional where since 2011 he was serving a 34-year sentence for organized crime, drug trafficking and murder. ‘Fito’ is identified as a possible mastermind of the August assassination of presidential candidate Fernando Villavivencio. He escaped when the Government I planned to transfer him to a maximum security prison.

The next day, Monday, there was a outbreak of incidents in six prisons this Monday, with riots and retention of prison guards. At least 150 guards and other staff members were taken hostage by prisoners, although some 11 were released, reports CNN. On the other hand, 39 inmates also escaped from a prison in Riobamba, although some have been recaptured. Noboa then declared a state of emergency and curfew for sixty days.

But the kidnapping of a group of police officers was joined on Tuesday by another symbolic prison breakthat of Fabricio Colon Pico, alias ‘Captain Pico’, arrested at the end of last week after threatening to assassinate the country’s attorney general, Diana Salazar. This same day, a command of armed hooded men took over the headquarters of the TC Televisión network, in the north of Guayaquil, while it was broadcast. The Prosecutor’s Office has reported that it will prosecute 13 people for terrorism for this assault, which concluded no victims after a police intervention.

The increase in violence, in a country where it was already a scourge, is related to the increased pressure from the new president on criminal gangs and the reduction of your economic flow, according to statements by Eduardo Saldaña, co-director of ‘The World Order, in Al Rojo Vivo. For the expert there is a “surprising” fact in the last movements: “There is a coordination between different groups to send a message to the Government.” Saldaña points out that the gangs “are so established in the Ecuadorian structure that they feel confident enough to directly threaten the Statesomething never seen before.”

Sandro Pozzi, a journalist specialized in international affairs, agrees. “Until now the gangs killed each other and here they are acting together. We have a double paradigm in the Ecuadorian situation”, he explained in ARV. Thus, he remembers that the increase in violence in the country has to do with the fact that Ecuador has gone from being a distributing country to a drug producing country in the last ten years. “They have laboratories, which increases the value of cocaine due to its quality. Furthermore, it distributes it and it is a huge business that increases violence,” he argues.