Ecuador's president has ordered that criminal gangs be "neutralised" after days of violence culminated in an attack on a television studio.
Following days of violence that resulted in an attack on a television studio, the president of Ecuador has ordered that criminal gangs be "neutralised".
During a broadcast, masked gunmen forced staff members to the floor by breaking into the live studio of public television channel TC.
Two employees were hurt in the incident, which resulted in 13 arrests by the police.
Since Ecuador declared a 60-day state of emergency on Monday, at least ten people have died.
Not too long after a prominent mobster disappeared from his prison cell, an emergency was proclaimed. It's unknown if the event at the TV studio in Guayaquil had anything to do with the boss of the Choneros gang, Fito, Adolfo MacÃas Villamar, going missing from a prison in the same city.
On Tuesday, President Noboa said that there was now a "internal armed conflict" in the nation and that the armed forces were being called upon to conduct "military operations to neutralize" terrorist groups, transnational organized crime, and hostile non-state entities.
To stop any unrest from spreading to neighboring Peru, the administration ordered the quick deployment of a police force 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 supplier of bananas, Ecuador also exports oil, coffee, cocoa, shrimp, and fish products. Fighting between international and local drug cartels over control of cocaine routes to the US and Europe has been connected to an increase in violence in the Andean nation, both inside and outside of its prisons.
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- Ecuador's youngest president-elect is Daniel Noboa.
During Tuesday's assault at the TV station, one gunman pointed a pump-action shotgun at the head of one of the captives, who was also threatened with a revolver.
A woman could be heard pleading, "Don't shoot, please don't shoot," AFP news agency reports, while a person could be heard screaming in apparent pain.
"Please, they came in to kill us," a TC employee told AFP in a WhatsApp message. "God don't let this happen. The criminals are on air."
One cameraman was shot in the leg, and another's arm was broken in the attack, the deputy director of news said.
"Through our earpieces the producers told us, 'Be careful, they are trying to enter, they are stealing, they are mugging us'," Jorge Rendon told the Reuters news agency.
"The doors in the studio are very thick, almost bullet-proofed, and they were trying to get in because they wanted to gain access to the studio so we would say whatever they wanted us to say," he said.
