Ecuador
After hostage-taking on TV show: contract killer shoots prosecutor
Watch the video: After hostage-taking on TV show – contract killer shoots prosecutor.
Cesar Suarez was on his way to a court hearing when he was shot dead in his car by hitmen. The Ecuadorian prosecutor was in charge of investigating the hostage-taking at the state television station TC Television. The Attorney General’s Office announced this on Wednesday. According to police, numerous bullets penetrated the side window of the white SUV: Attorney General Diana Salazar said in an interview published on social media, “The criminals, the terrorists, will not stop our commitment to Ecuadorian society. We call on the law enforcement to ensure security to those who fulfill their tasks.” Ecuador has been rocked by a series of violent acts for weeks. On January 9th, heavily armed and masked men attacked the television station TC Television and took several journalists and other employees hostage. Prosecutor Cesar Suárez was supposed to find out which gang was responsible for the attack. Police have arrested and detained 13 people, including two minors, on suspicion of terrorist offenses.
In Ecuador, a prosecutor was shot dead on his way to a court hearing. Cesar Suarez was investigating the alleged gang members who had previously stormed a television studio and taken numerous hostages.
In the brutal power struggle between drug cartels and the government in Ecuador, the prosecutor who led the investigation into a high-profile hostage-taking in a television studio has been murdered. According to authorities, César Suárez was shot dead in his car in the port city of Guayaquil on Wednesday. Photos showed the side window of the white SUV pierced by numerous bullets. On Thursday, police announced the arrest of two suspects. “We have arrested two suspects,” said police chief César Zapata on the online service X, the former Twitter. During the investigation into Suárez’s murder, evidence of her “suspected involvement” in the crime was found.
After the murder of her colleague, Attorney General Diana Salazar said in a video published on Defense Minister Gian Carlo Loffredo said the government rejected “any form of violence” and would continue to support judicial authorities. 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 ended the hostage-taking after half an hour. Prosecutor Suárez was supposed to find out which gang was behind the attack. In the past few days, at least 1,975 people have been arrested in over 20,800 operations, the police announced on. President Daniel Noboa has now called for support from the USA and other countries in the fight against increasing violence.
Wave of violence rocks Ecuador
The South American country is being rocked by an unprecedented wave of violence from various drug cartels. The trigger was the escape of José Adolfo Macías alias “Fito”, one of the country’s most powerful drug lords, from the maximum security prison in Guayaquil around ten days ago. President Noboa then declared a state of emergency, deployed the army against organized crime and imposed a nighttime curfew. The gangs fought back and declared “war” on the state. Since then, they have been terrorizing the entire country with prison riots, hostage-taking and attacks; around 20 people have already been killed.
Watch the video: Gunmen storm a live broadcast in Ecuador and threaten employees.
The security situation had recently deteriorated dramatically. The murder rate of 46.5 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants last year was the highest in the history of the once peaceful Andean nation and one of the highest in Latin America. Ecuador lies between Colombia and Peru, the world’s two largest cocaine producers, but was long considered relatively peaceful and stable. In recent years, the country itself has become a hub for international drug trafficking. Since then, violent crime has also increased massively. Suárez’s murder was not the first attack on a prosecutor in Ecuador: in June 2003, prosecutor Leonardo Palacios was shot dead in the town of Duran, near Guayaquil. In 2022, two prosecutors and a judge were shot dead elsewhere in the country. Attorney General Salazar has also received death threats.
Photo documentation
In 2014, 43 students disappeared in one fell swoop. A photographer visited her family in Mexico
Corruption and overcrowded prisons
The murder of presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio before last year’s election also caused horror. Before his candidacy, Villavicencio had fought against corruption as a journalist. Seven suspects in the case were later murdered in custody. Violent clashes between rival gangs often occur in Ecuador’s prisons. President Noboa, elected in the fall, has promised to curb violence and regain control of prisons. On Sunday, the authorities announced at least a partial victory: all prison employees who had been taken hostage by mutinous inmates were free again.