A live television studio in Ecuador was broken into by masked gunmen who threatened the staff, who were terrified.
Before the live feed stopped during the broadcast by Guayaquil’s public television station TC, workers were compelled to the ground. After releasing every employee and making 13 arrests, according to the police, they displayed the recovered weapons.
Since Ecuador declared a 60-day state of emergency on Monday, at least ten people have died.
Not too long after a notorious gangster disappeared from his prison cell, an emergency was declared. It’s unclear if Fito or Adolfo Macías Villamar, the leader of the Choneros gang, vanished from a prison in the same city in connection with the incident at the TV studio in Guayaquil.
To stop any instability from entering neighbouring Peru, the government there ordered the quick deployment of police officers to the border.
According to US officials, they are “co-ordinating closely” with President Daniel Noboa and his administration in Ecuador and are “ready to provide assistance” in response to the “brazen attacks” that have taken place in that country.
In addition to being a major exporter of bananas, Ecuador also exports oil, coffee, cocoa, prawns, and fish products. Fighting between foreign and local drug cartels over control of cocaine routes to the US and Europe has been linked to an increase in violence in the Andean nation, both inside and outside of its prisons.
