Violence erupts in Ecuador, including live TV broadcasts

Ecuador experienced a wave of violence Tuesday, including during a live television broadcast by armed men, which prompted the country's President Daniel Noboa to announce the terrorist organisation 22 groups of criminals.

Ecuadoran police arrested 13 armed men who invaded the television channel TC during live transmission.

Meanwhile, several police officers were taken hostage and reported several explosions in different parts of the country.

Noboa, who took power in November, pledging that he would stop the violence caused by the drug trade, declared a state of emergency 60 days Monday, in response to prison violence, where prison guards were taken hostage by inmates and after the surprise escape from prison of the leader of the Los Choneros criminal group, Adolfo Macias, on Sunday.

At least 10 people have been killed by the announcement of a state of emergency Monday in Ecuador.

Noboa acknowledged on Tuesday that an armed internal conflict is under way in Ecuador “and declared 22 criminal groups as terrorist organisations, including the Los Choneros group.

The government said violence has erupted as a result of Noboa's plans to build a new high-security prison and to displace the imprisoned leaders of criminal groups there.

Today's <x0 account shows that the national government's actions and decisions are severely influenced by criminal structures, and in response they have caused a wave of violence to intimidate the people”, said Admiral Jaime Vela, who heads the combined command of Ecuador's Armed Forces.

All the groups mentioned in the Noboa decree are now the target of the Ecuadoran army, Vela said.

Displacement in prisons of great leaders has historically sparked violence. Hundreds of prisoners have been killed in recent years.

Some Ecuadorans have begun to question Noboa's efforts to control violence.

Deaths as a result of violence across the country rose to 8,0108 in 2023, the Government said, almost twice the number of over 4,500 in 2022.