In a joint press conference with the Police, Aquiles Álvarez expressed solidarity with the families of the victims and said that his commitment “is to the security” of the coastal city
“We will work proactively and collaboratively with public forces, whom we fully support to strengthen the joint response to the serious security crisis”, added the mayor.
Álvarez also called for “national unity” and expressed confidence that “the Armed Forces and the National Police” will take the necessary measures to restore order and peace in Ecuador.
Ecuador was hit by a series of acts of violence in several cities, including the capital Quito. In Guayaquil, the epicenter of the violence and the second largest city in the South American country, robberies, looting and shootings occurred in commercial areas, the Police admitted at a press conference.
In the northern part of the coastal city, several individuals shot at vehicles passing nearby, killing five people and injuring a student.
In the same area, an armed group invaded a warehouse and murdered three people. Also in Guayaquil, several armed men invaded a TC television channel studio and took journalists and other employees hostage during a live broadcast.
All the armed men who invaded the television studio were, however, detained, according to the head of the National Police, Commander César Zapata, speaking to the Teleamazonas channel.
The Ecuador Prosecutor’s Office said on the social network X that it will charge 13 people with the crime of terrorism for the attack. Shortly afterwards, the president of Ecuador declared a state of “internal armed conflict” and ordered the neutralization of criminal groups involved in drug trafficking.
In a presidential decree, Daniel Noboa ordered “the mobilization and intervention of the armed forces and the National Police (…) to guarantee national sovereignty and integrity against organized crime and terrorist organizations”.
The National Court of Justice (CNJ) also lamented the “organized crime offensive”, also referring to riots in prisons, burning cars and attacks with explosives.
In a statement, the court condemned the attacks and threats that emerged against the president of the CNJ, Iván Saquicela, and the State Attorney General, Diana Salazar.
Ecuador experienced a day of terror on Tuesday due to the actions of organized crime groups, after the president declared, on Monday, a state of emergency, which included a six-hour curfew at night.