Gunmen wearing masks have entered a TV studio in Ecuador and scared the people working there.
Workers were made to lie down on the floor by the public TV channel TC in the city of Guayaquil before the live broadcast ended.
The police let all the staff go and arrested 13 people later. The station said that two workers got hurt.
At least 10 people have died since a 60-day state of emergency started in Ecuador on Monday.
A dangerous criminal escaped from his jail cell, so an emergency was called. It’s not clear if the TV studio incident in Guayaquil was connected to the boss of the Choneros gang, Adolfo Macías Villamar, who is also known as Fito, going missing from a prison in the same city.
In Peru, the government sent police to the border right away to stop any problems from coming into the country.
The US is strongly against the bold attacks in Ecuador and is working closely with President Daniel Noboa and the Ecuadorean government. They are also prepared to help if needed.
Ecuador sells a lot of bananas to other countries. They also sell oil, coffee, cocoa, shrimp, and fish. An increase in fighting in the Andean country, both in and out of its prisons, has been connected to battles between drug groups, from other countries and from the country itself, over who gets to control the paths for moving cocaine to the US and Europe.
On Tuesday, during the attack at the TV station, a person with a shotgun pointed the gun at the head of one of the hostages. The hostage was also threatened with a revolver.
According to AFP news agency, a woman was begging, “Please don’t shoot,” and someone was screaming in pain.
“Please help, someone came in to hurt us,” said a TC employee in a WhatsApp message to AFP. “Please don’t let this happen, God. ” The criminals are being watched on TV.
One person with a camera was shot in the leg, and another person’s arm was broken during the attack, the deputy director of news explained.
“Jorge Rendon told the news agency that the producers warned us through our earpieces that someone was trying to break in, steal, and rob us. ”
“The doors in the studio are really strong, almost like they can stop bullets. They were trying to break in because they wanted us to say what they wanted us to say,” he said.
The police said they would punish the suspects for their terrorist actions and share their arrest and weapons on social media.
President Noboa said that there is a fight happening inside the country, and he is sending the army to stop crime and terrorist groups.
He was reacting to a lot of fights and escapes from jails that have been happening lately. Authorities say it’s because of gangs.
He made a list of 22 gangs, including the Choneros, named after a town in Manabi Province. Some of the other gangs on the list were Aguilas, AguilasKiller, AK-47, Caballeros Oscuros, ChoneKiller, Covicheros, Cuartel de las Feas, Cubanos, Fatales, Ganster, Kater Piler, Lagartos, Latin Kings, Lobos, Los p. 27, Los Tiburones, Mafia 18, Mafia Trebol, Patrones, R7 and Tiguerones.
The new rule says there must be a curfew at night to stop violence after Fito escaped. Police and prison guards are working to bring back calm in six jails where there were riots on Monday.
On Tuesday, in Guayaquil, eight people died and three got hurt in attacks by criminal gangs. Additionally, two police officers were killed by armed criminals in the nearby town of Nobol.
In Riobamba city, almost 40 prisoners, including a drug lord, escaped from jail.
At least seven police officers were taken by force. There is a video on social media showing three of the kidnapped officers sitting on the ground with a gun pointed at them. One of the officers is made to say something to President Noboa in the video.
“You started a war, so you will receive a war,” the officer says. “You said it’s an emergency. ” We say that police, civilians, and soldiers are the things that are taken in war.
Police told everyone to leave the government offices in Quito because they are worried about safety.
People in Quito told the news agency Reuters that there was a lot of disorder in the city after they heard about the attack at the TV station in Guayaquil.
“Mario Urena said there is too much anxiety in the city. ” “At work, some people are leaving earlier. ” Many people are going away, and there’s a lot of traffic and alarms everywhere. There is a lot of confusion.
More people in Cuenca were surprised when they saw the TV station taken over.
Francisco Rosas said that in Ecuador, they have never seen a channel being taken over and a broadcast starting with shootings and kidnappings. “What’s the security like here. If a TV station can be robbed like this, imagine how vulnerable restaurants or shops are. ”
Lately, the country’s prisons have had a lot of fighting between different gangs, which has led to many inmates being killed.
The Choneros are a strong prison gang that is believed to be responsible for a lot of the violent riots and fights in Ecuador’s prisons in the past few years.
Fito is believed to have run away just a few hours before he was supposed to be moved. Two prison guards have been taken into custody because they are suspected of helping him escape.
His getting away is bad for President Noboa’s government. President Noboa became president in November after winning an election that was affected by the killing of presidential candidate and journalist Fernando Villavicencio.
Villavicencio had told people that Fito threatened to kill him. Then, he was shot and killed in Quito after a political event.