GUAYAQUIL – Locked in his work cabin, in absolute darkness and hidden in a fetal position behind towers of equipment, the channel’s sound engineer TC Television of EcuadorJhonny Murillo, closed all the microphones and prevented the group of hooded men who burst into the live broadcast armed from spreading their message on the air.
Another technician raised the volume of a gloomy melody, which accompanied the assault, to the frustration and anger of the perpetrators.
Thousands of Ecuadorians witnessed live the assault on TC television Tuesday afternoon, when a group of hooded men with long and short weapons and explosives burst into the noon newscast. The assailants came and went, uttering threats, hitting some and pointing at presenters, cameramen, technicians and workers of that medium.
The situation lasted about 20 minutes, at the end of which police tactical teams arrived and managed to subdue the assailants and put an end to an unprecedented episode witnessed by thousands of absorbed spectators.
Murillo assured that the criminals had clear instructions and wanted to control technical areas to go on air, but “I locked my cabin, I put myself in the fetal position, behind the cabin so they wouldn’t find me.”
Shortly after, the criminals achieved their goal, they broke the door, and with pushes they forced another technician to activate the sound on air, but in the midst of nerves and confusion he activated “the audio of the red chronicle segment: a music of permanent tension , which I always use,” he highlighted.
“It was as if a dramatic play was being performed live… I was still hiding… I was trying not to breathe too hard,” to avoid being discovered. He said that one of the hooded men called someone they identified as La Firma and asked if they saw them. and they listen to them, which increased their anger and frustration. Shortly after, the police arrived.
“Today I was born again”
Fernando Bellido, head of Operations, one of the three injured in the assault on the television station, said that he has “been born again, today I feel like I was born again.”
In the middle of the attack in the air, repeated attacks on Bellido by several hooded men were observed. They viciously hit him in the face and body, with their hands already kicked, apart from pointing at him repeatedly.
“The physical is recovered immediately, but the mental pain, the images of those criminals with weapons pointing at us and then using us as human shields, will remain for a long time as something that crushes the head and does not allow us to sleep,” he said.
The only one wounded by a gunshot in the assault on TC Televisión, Juan José Vera, a studio cameraman, and still admitted to the hospital, said that “I am afraid” and expressed that “I am very sore, it is difficult for me to speak” and reported that one of the criminals fired into the air and one of the bullets ricocheted, hitting his right leg.
“Health recovers soon, but I only think about those guns over my head and the heads of my companions,” he expressed and said that the doctors have treated him well and “they have sedated me so that I do not have so much pain, my pain will now be constant, especially when I return to the channel.”
Noboa asks Colombia to extradite 1,500 prisoners
The president of Ecuador, Daniel Noboareported this Wednesday that he posed to Colombia the extradition of 1,500 prisoners as part of the first measures adopted by his Government within the framework of the “internal armed conflict” that the country is experiencing due to the activity of “narco-terrorist” groups.
The president stressed during an interview with Canela Radio that almost all of the prisoners in Ecuador are Colombian, Peruvian and Venezuelan citizens. Specifically, he pointed out that extraditions will be carried out through international agreements.
Noboa also took the opportunity to explain that the Government will present this Thursday the project of the two new high security prisonslocated in the provinces of Pastaza and Santa Elena, which will be built by the same company that built the existing ones in Mexico and El Salvador.
The president already spoke about this measure last week during an interview on Radio Sucre. “For all the Bukele lovers. An equal prison,” he highlighted, in reference to the so-called Terrorism Confinement Center (Cecot) in El Salvador.
On the other hand, Noboa explained this Wednesday that the armed gangs want to benefit from Human Rights treaties. “The kidnappers of 40 people are talking about Human Rights,” he stated, alluding to the seizure of the facilities of the Ecuadorian channel TC Televisión.
“We cannot give in, which is what they wanted. We are not going to stop because a bunch of terrorists want to intimidate the citizens. We are not going to give in,” he stressed. He added that this is a “non-international armed conflict” involving more than 20,000 people.
In this sense, he added that to carry out all the measures during the state of emergency, State expenses and expenditures will have to be cut. “We have international assistance, which we are accepting,” stated the Ecuadorian president.
“We are living in a very hard time. This Government is a firm Government. It is a Government that will protect citizens and the moments of lukewarm governments are over,” he said. He stated that armed gangs are “military objectives.”
Source: With information from AP / Europa Press
