2024-01-17 23:43:50
In Ecuador, rocked by a brutal power struggle between drug cartels and the government, the prosecutor who led the investigation into a high-profile hostage-taking in a television studio has been murdered. Cesar Suarez was shot dead in his car in the port city of Guayaquil yesterday, authorities said. Photos showed the side window of the white SUV pierced by numerous bullets.
Attorney General Diana Salazar emphasized in an Internet video in response to Suarez’s murder that “the organized crime gangs, the criminals, the terrorists” would not stop the judicial authorities from their work.
Heavily armed masked men stormed a studio of the state television station TC in Guayaquil on January 9th during a live broadcast. They briefly took several journalists and other employees hostage. Police officers finally ended the hostage situation. Prosecutor Suarez was supposed to find out which gang was behind the attack.
Ecuador lies between Colombia and Peru, the world’s two largest cocaine producers, but was long considered comparatively peaceful and stable. In recent years, the country itself has become a hub for international drug trafficking.
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