Soldiers are patrolling the streets in many cities in Ecuador because the country is dealing with a very violent day.
Armed men wearing masks entered a TV studio in Guayaquil while a live show was on, and bombs exploded in different parts of Ecuador on Tuesday.
Inmates in five jails have taken more than 130 prison staff as hostages.
A state of emergency started on Monday because a dangerous criminal disappeared from his prison cell.
It’s not clear if the attack on the TV studio in Ecuador’s biggest city is connected to the disappearance of the leader of the Choneros gang, Adolfo Macías Villamar, also known as Fito.
President Daniel Noboa said that things were very bad because there were a lot of fights and people escaping from jails, so he made a special rule to help stop the problem.
He commanded that criminal gangs be stopped and said there was a war happening within the country.
The government says that the violence is happening because people are upset about President Noboa’s plan to build a new, very secure prison for gang leaders.
On Wednesday, the president announced that Ecuador will send foreign prisoners, especially those from Colombia, back to their own countries to lower the number of inmates.
Esteban Torres Cobo, who works for President Noboa, said that fighting against armed gangs could lead to a lot of people being killed or injured.
“It’s going to be tough, but this change is necessary for a better future. We can’t keep putting off this decision. We need to make it now,” he said on the BBC’s Newshour program.
He said gang leaders wanted to talk things out, but the government won’t negotiate with them.
A representative for the United Nations leader, Antonio Guterres, said he is very worried about the worsening situation and how it is affecting the lives of people in Ecuador.
At the same time, a person at the White House said the US is very against the recent attacks. Another person from the National Security Council said the US wants to help keep Ecuador safe and help them do well.
A few hours after the most bold of the attacks, Guayaquil was like a city that just woke up from a weird bad dream.
In recent years, the security situation has gotten worse. But it was still surprising to see the TV anchor with a gun pointed at him during a live broadcast.
Police have arrested 70 people since Monday, including those who stormed the TV station.
The attack has made people scared and they are still hiding, even a day later. There are not many people on the streets today, even though it’s a weekday. Many people think that the situation is similar to the time when Covid was happening.
Many soldiers are walking around Guayaquil and Quito, some in tanks.
Schools all around the country are shut down, and students are having their classes on the internet.
China, who gives a lot of money to Ecuador, said it was closing its embassy and consulates for a little while.
In Guayaquil, some businesses are still open and have security guards who are anxious and keeping the doors closed. They only let people inside carefully.
Eduardo works for a big clothing company. He was outside getting coffee when everything started to get crazy. When he got back to the office, his coworkers were already getting ready to go.
“He said that today, everyone is working from their houses. ”
The SNAI prisons agency in Ecuador said that around 125 prison guards and 14 office workers are being kept as hostages.
Four police officers were taken by bad guys and are still being kept. Three more policemen were released on Tuesday night.
The police say that there is still violence happening in Guayaquil. On Tuesday, criminal gangs attacked and killed eight people in the city. Three others were hurt. In a nearby town, two police officers were killed by armed criminals.
The police are trying to figure out who the three people are who were found dead in a car that was on fire in the south of the city last night.
This is a very unusual situation for the people of Guayaquil. They have seen protests and violence before, but nothing as scary as what happened on Tuesday.
The students were scared and ran away when gunmen came into their university and set off bombs in different parts of the country. People were worried that the attacks were planned together.
People who have to go out for work or to see their family are very scared and worried. The past day in Ecuador’s biggest port has been tiring and upsetting.
A rule that says people have to stay inside at night to stop fighting and crime.
In the past few years, there have been a lot of fights between different gangs in Ecuador’s prisons. These fights have led to many inmates being killed.
President Noboa declared a state of emergency and said that the Choneros gang, along with 21 other gangs, are responsible for the recent violence.
The new rule started after the state of emergency was announced on Monday. It says that people have to stay inside at night to try to stop violence after Fito ran away. The police are working to make things calm again in six jails where riots happened on Monday.
Fito getting away is really bad for Mr Noboa. He’s only been president for seven weeks.
President Noboa became the youngest leader of Ecuador when he was 36 years old. He won the election, but it was a sad time because another presidential candidate and journalist, Fernando Villavicencio, was killed.
Villavicencio told people he was going to be killed by Fito. Then he was shot and killed after a campaign event in Quito.