Ecuador declares war on criminal gangs following armed assault on television station

Reporters at an Ecuadorian news show suddenly got front row seats to the story Tuesday, when a half-dozen heavily armed men broke into the studio, forced everyone down on threats of death and took control of the cameras of the live program in an attempt to broadcast one message to the nation: “When you mess with the mafia, there are consequences.”

Images of the armed men carrying shotguns, grenades and sticks of dynamite while aiming guns at the heads of reporters of TC Television in Guayaquil – the country’s largest city – circulated around the nation through social media and other TV channels.

The kidnapping led to a televised standoff with police. But the incident had a quick and a rather anticlimactic resolution: The men were expertly subdued by police after a couple of hours when they tried to run away after a brief shootout.

While no one was injured in the confrontation, the images served to underscore the message a few hours later by the country’s president, Daniel Noboa. Ecuador is in the middle of an internal armed conflict, he said, before ordering the country’s armed forces to “neutralize” the gangs, which Noboa declared as “terrorist organizations”.

In a polarized nation known for its divisive politics, this week’s events are serving to unite people around the one issue that is threatening to sink the country further into a spiral of violence: the need to put an end to the nation’s gangs transforming Ecuador into a major drug hub.

“This is becoming a full-out war at all levels,” said Efrén Guerrero, a political analyst and professor from the Pontifical Catholic University of Ecuador. “We are going through a moment of great tension. There is a sense that we are going through a very dark and ugly point in the history of Ecuador, and this is prompting all political actors to support the president because enough is enough.”

While all 13 gang members involved in the assault on the TV station were apprehended without major injuries, blood was shed in other confrontations Tuesday. Guayaquil Mayor Aquiles Álvarez told reporters that at least eight people had died in shootouts with police and there were at least two injured.

There were also reports Tuesday of explosions and burning vehicles throughout the country, and officials later said that 70 had been arrested for the acts of violence in the country.

On Wednesday, Noboa assured Ecuadorians that the armed forces will continue searching for gang members until the job is done.

“We are in a state of war and we cannot give in to these terrorists,” Noboa said in his first public appearance after the week’s events. “They are not going to subdue the president.”

This week’s violence was cause of concern in Washington, with National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan condemning the violence on X.

“We strongly condemn the recent criminal attacks by armed groups in Ecuador against private, public, & government institutions,” Sullivan wrote. “We are committed to supporting Ecuadorians’ security & prosperity & bolstering cooperation w/partners to ensure the perpetrators are brought to justice.”

Later, at a press briefing on Wednesday, John Kirby, coordinator for Strategic Communications at the National Security Council in the White House, told reporters that the administration’s concern “is over the violence, and seeing that that stops” and cautioned U.S. citizens in Ecuador to steer clear of areas where violence has occurred.

Kirby said that the administration is also monitoring whether the security crisis in the country might contribute to a further increase in migrant flows to the U.S. southern border, but said it was too soon to say whether the U.S. diplomatic presence in Ecuador would be affected by the security situation.

“We’re monitoring the situation,” Kirby said. “We’re willing to take concrete steps to improve our cooperation with the government of Ecuador as they begin to deal with the violence.”

“We haven’t had a specific conversation about exactly what that would mean,” he added, “but I would walk you away from any consideration of U.S. military troops or anything like that. There’s no plans for that, and we ought to just kill that right now. But certainly we’re willing to talk to the government of Ecuador about what they might need. It might be some investigative help – that kind of thing.”

Meanwhile, Ecuadorian military operations continued on Wednesday, with the army reporting that it had arrested two “terrorists” with weapons near the Peruvian border during an operation in which agents were fired at with rifles. The men apprehended were heavily armed. Besides the rifle, they had been carrying two submachine guns, two pistols, a revolver and ammunition, the army said through its X account.

Noboa, who took office in November after winning an election stained by the gang-ordered assassination of rival candidate Fernando Villavicencio, issued a decree on Tuesday authorizing the use of force to put down the criminal groups.

The country had already been placed under partial martial law, which includes a night curfew, following a series of prison riots this week and the escape from prison of two gang leaders.

Local press reports said that the riots began on Monday while officials were searching for José Adolfo Macías, alias “Fito”, leader of “Los Choneros” gang, who had staged a prison break. Los Choneros is considered one of the most dangerous criminal organizations in the country for its alleged links to Mexican cartels.

Macías’ escape was followed by that of Fabricio Colón Pico, an alleged member of the Los Lobos gang, which is also one of the more than 20 groups designated by the Ecuadorian government as a terrorist organization.