GUAYAQUIL, Ecuador (AP) — At least 15 police and foot soldiers were wounded Thursday in the latest crime that hit Ecuador, authorities said, as the country grapples with violence blamed on organized crime teams waging a deadly war on drugs.
An SNAI official who requested anonymity told AFP that police were confronting detainees armed with firearms and explosives.
Explosions were heard coming from the criminal until mid-afternoon, then stopped. The drones flew overhead.
Ecuador, once a nonviolent neighbor of major cocaine manufacturers Colombia and Peru, has noted a wave of violent crime that the government blames on territorial disputes between rival gangs connected to Mexican cartels.
President Guillermo Lasso, who on Tuesday declared a state of emergency and nighttime curfews in the western provinces of Guayas and Esmeraldas, tweeted Thursday that his government would crack down on the violence.
“This government is not going to give to narco-terrorists, in this country they are not going to impose their will,” Lasso tweeted alongside images of detainees lying face down in a criminal courtyard.
Civilians are caught up in the bloodshed that has claimed the lives of more than 60 police officers since last year.
Widespread corruption among guards detained to unload firearms and explosives, among other contraband.
Tuesday’s attacks killed five police officers and one civilian. Teams armed with weapons, including car bombs, hit more than 18 goals in the two provinces, adding police and fuel facilities, a clinic – where a civilian was seriously injured – and a bus station.
Inmates at a facility in Esmeraldas also took 8 guards hostage on Tuesday to protest the movement of detainees, but later released them. In the same city on Monday, two headless bodies were discovered hanging from a pedestrian bridge.
Tuesday’s attacks are believed to be a reaction to a mass transfer of inmates from Guayas 1 prison, which is largely under gang control.
Wednesday’s clashes left two dead and six wounded.
Ecuador has gone from being a drug transit directorate in recent years to a distribution hub in its own right.
The United States and Europe are the main destinations for Latin Americans.
Ecuador’s homicide rate nearly doubled in 2021 to 14 consisting of 100,000 people, and reached 18 consistent with 100,000 between January and October of this year, according to official data.
In 2021, law enforcement seized a record 210 tons of drugs, mostly cocaine. So far, this year’s seizures total 160 tons.
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