QUITO, ECUADOR.- This Thursday, hundreds of police and military officials entered a prison in Quito and a jail in the Penitentiary Complex of Guayaquil, from whom alias “Fito”, the head of one of the largest and most feared drug gangs, escaped. His escape was confirmed on January 8 and was followed by an upsurge in violence in the country.
The uniformed men are “controlling the external and internal perimeter of the penitentiary center,” the Armed Forces said on their X social network account.
The Armed Forces posted on the same network photos of prisoners in their underwear, with their hands tied and lying face down in a patio. These images have become common in Ecuador, due to the surveillance of human rights organizations to respect the fundamental guarantees of prisoners.
Between January 9 and 18, police and military forces have carried out more than 23,000 operations and have arrested 2,174 people, of which 158 are accused of “terrorism”, according to the Armed Forces. They have also seized about six tons of drugs.
Misinformation multiplies and permeates a country in panic.
Faced with rumors on social networks of an alleged plan to poison the troops, the military took extreme measures in food consumption, according to a bulletin.
Escalation of violence
Weeks before the violent attack, prosecutor Salazar had revealed the links between the gangs and the highest levels of power.
The Metastasis investigation accused judges, politicians, prosecutors, police officers, a former director of the penitentiary authority, among others, of benefiting criminal organizations in exchange for money, gold, prostitutes, apartments and luxuries.
“The country must be prepared (…) the response to this operation will be an escalation of violence,” Salazar then anticipated.
Prosecutor Suárez led investigations that uncovered mafia infiltration in the judicial system and corruption scandals in the purchase of medical supplies during the COVID-19 pandemic.
After the murder of Suárez, the Minister of Defense, Gian Carlo Loffredo, expressed the “strong commitment of the national government to supporting the administration of justice.”
The attorney general has also reported death threats against her from one of the leaders of the Los Lobos gang, who escaped from prison amid the riots that occurred in the prisons last week.
Source: AFP
