The Ecuadorian Prosecutor’s Office reported this Wednesday that it will prosecute 13 people related to the armed and violent assault this Tuesday on the TC Televisión channel in Guayaquil for terrorism, including a Venezuelan citizen and two minors. The eleven adults, including the Venezuelan citizen, will be placed under preventive detention in the Litoral Penitentiary in Guayaquil by court order, while The two minors, ages 15 and 17, will be taken to a detention center.

The Public Ministry, which will have a thirty-day investigation period, added that “those involved would be part of an organized crime group (GDO)” and that a preventive detention order has been issued for them. The violent assault on the main set of the TC Televisión channel, in Guayaquil, was broadcast on a live broadcast which lasted until special police agents subdued the aggressors, some of them hooded, and released the employees who had been detained and threatened with weapons.

The Prosecutor’s Office has also presented as evidence “the complaint presented by television channel executives, versions of the arresting agents who acted in the operation and the employees who were victims of the attacks.” Likewise, “indications and evidence collected by the Judicial Police at the scene”, including firearms (two revolvers, two pistols and a submachine gun), ammunition, explosives, several cell phones and communications radios, which are in their respective chain of custody,” the source added.

The Prosecutor’s Office began the investigation of the case after the events that occurred on the television channel, which were broadcast live. According to the prosecutor’s report, “the attackers entered carrying firearms (pistols and a repeater), a military type grenade and dynamite blockswith which they intimidated the security personnel and then the workers who were there, to finally reach the television set and continue with the threats and attacks.”

The violent action left “two people injured (one by bullet and another by physical assault), who were treated by paramedics from the Fire Department, who also went to the scene.” after the attack was put down by the Policeadded the Prosecutor’s Office. Ecuador’s penal code condemns the crime of terrorism with custodial sentences of thirteen to sixteen years.

329 “terrorists arrested, five killed

The head of the Joint Command of the Armed Forces of Ecuador, Jaime Vela, announced this Wednesday that in the operations carried out on Tuesday against the wave of attacks and riots generated by organized crime groups, “329 terrorists” have been arrested and killed To five. “We have arrested 329 terrorists, we have killed five terrorists“said Vela when taking stock of the operations carried out following the decree of the country’s president, Daniel Noboa, who declared an internal armed conflict on Tuesday in the face of the resurgence of violent actions by organized crime groups.

The military chief, in a press conference, confirmed that there are no wounded or dead soldiers, although two police officers have been killed and one seriously injured. He also indicated that according to the state penitentiary agency, called the National Service for Comprehensive Attention to Persons Deprived of Liberty (SNAI), “There is no hostage who has been murdered“, of the 139 that still exist among guards and administrative staff in five prisons in the country where inmates have rioted.

Last Monday, groups of inmates rioted in at least five prisons in the country and detained guards and prison staff, some of whom are still captive. According to Vela, law enforcement has managed to free 41 people who were “kidnapped” and he said that 28 inmates who had escaped have also been captured. The military chief indicated that the operations have been oriented, above all, against the gangs known as ‘Tiguerones’, ‘Los Lobos’ and ‘Los Choneros’, and reiterated that the military forces have not suffered casualties in these actions.

He also reported that in the different operations carried out In the last two days, 61 firearms have been seized, among other materials used by criminals. Vela asked Ecuadorians to “have patience, hope, faith in their Armed Forces and Police” who have deployed their best capabilities to stop the wave of violent actions by organized crime groups. He insisted that law enforcement forces act in the current situation “so that peace reaches the entire country as quickly as possible.”