A crisis of insecurity, violence and politics is being experienced in Ecuador, just over a month after holding the runoff of the early presidential elections, in which Luisa Gonzalez, candidate of the Citizen Revolution movement (RC), and Daniel Noboa, will face each other. of the National Democratic Action alliance (ADN).
Wednesday night and early Thursday morning, two car bombs exploded in the center of Quito, the capital of the country. According to the National Police, the first explosion was recorded at approximately 7:00 p.m. [hora local] yesterday on Robles and Amazonas streets, in the La Mariscal sector, near a building where the National Service for Comprehensive Attention to Adults Deprived of Liberty and Adolescent Offenders (SNAI) previously operated, the state department in charge of guarding and manage Ecuador’s prisons. Two gas cylinders and, apparently, wads of dynamite were found in the vehicle.
“After preliminary verifications, it is established that individuals had left the vehicle parked abandoned on Robles and Amazonas streets, in Quito, which had been found with a slow-fuse device. Later, two citizens who were traveling on a motorcycle had flammable liquid was released, which caused the car to explode,” the Police detailed. six people were arrested for his alleged involvement in this incident.
Later, around 2:00 in the morning, a van with two gas cylinders inside exploded on 12 de Octubre Avenue, between Wilson and Foch streets, causing damage to the exterior of the SNAI buildingaccording to accurate police.
In none of the explosions were any victims reported, the security forces detailed.
In addition, the mayor of Quito, Pabel Munoz, reportedwithout giving further details, that three grenades were detonated in a controlled manner in the Ecuadorian capital.
Detained prison officers
While these explosions occurred in Quito, prison agents remain kidnapped by inmates in the Turi prison, in the Andean city of Cuenca, province of Azuay, in the south of the country.
The prisoners have rioted climbing on the roof of the prison compound, one of the many where violent events have been recorded in recent years in the South American country.
Wagner Bravo, Secretary of Public and State Security, in an interview with FM Worldcommented that with these actions, both in prisons and on the streets (with car bombs), organized crime groups they want to “intimidate the state” to prevent them from continuing to carry out their function of controlling penitentiary centers.
Regarding the car bombs, he considered that they could be linked to a repercussion due to the transfer to different prisons of the six people who were arrested for their alleged involvement in the murder of former presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio, which occurred on August 9.
Likewise, according to the SNAI, the riot in the Cuenca prison is in protest of the intervention, with more than 1,800 members of the National Police and the Armed Forces, carried out on Wednesday in the Latacunga prison, capital of the province of Cotopaxi. . These actions were carried out with the purpose of “removing weapons, ammunition and explosives” and “avoiding violent events,” according to the president of Ecuador, Guillermo Lasso.
All these facts are recorded while governs a state of exceptiondecreed by Lasso on July 24, throughout Ecuador, a country that in 2022 experienced the most violent year in its history, with 4,823 intentional homicides in the 12 months, and this year is shaping up to be even worse.
Reports to the Government
Along with these events on the streets and in prisons, a new accusation arises against the Lasso government. Journalist Andersson Boscan, from the Ecuadorian digital portal La Posta, revealed on Tuesday that the Police and the State Attorney General’s Office (FGE) They knew since last April that there was an attack plan in progress to attack him, Villavicencio (who was then serving as an assemblyman) and Colonel Jose Luis Erazo.
“Three and a half months later, Fernando Villavicencio was murdered […] This information was in the hands of the Prosecutor’s Office and the Police, and despite this information, they never opened an investigation,” he denounced.
Boscan links the threats of attacks with the revelations that La Posta made since last January, in the case they called ‘Great Godfather’that exposed the existence of an alleged corruption network in public companies in Ecuador, in the administration of Guillermo Lasso, which would be led by the president’s brother-in-law, Danilo Carrera, his trusted operator, Ruben Cherres (murdered on March 31) , and the former head of the Public Enterprise Coordinating Company (EMCO) Hernan Luque, who fled the country.
It also relates attack alerts to a document known as ‘Lion of Troy’, a police report about alleged links between the Albanian mafia and Carrera, through Cherres. That investigation was led by Erazo.
Villavicencio had already warned last February that the team of police investigators that participated in the ‘Leon de Troya’ case was “under threat from drug traffickers.”
On Wednesday, relatives and lawyers of these police officers confirmed their fears and, at a press conference, warned of the risk of death. “My husband is next on the list. I don’t want to be the next widow”said Erika Mena, Erazo’s wife, who, like Lieutenant Ronny Rengel—another of the investigators in the ‘Lion of Troy’ case—fears for her life.
At the press conference they denounced persecution by the national government and the Ecuadorian State, through actions such as raids on offices and homes. They hold Lasso, the Minister of the Interior, Juan Zapata, and the General Commander of the Police, Fausto Salinas, responsible for the lives of these officers.
“On Sunday, August 27, between 12:15 a.m., shots were fired outside my house. My son’s room was raided, his phones were taken away,” said Orlando Rengel, Ronny’s father. Given the lack of guarantees for those in uniform, his lawyers announced the request for precautionary measures before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) so that the State gives them protection.
Before the relatives and lawyers of these police officers spoke out, the Prosecutor’s Office and the Government issued statements responding to Boscan’s revelations. The FGE said that “the information made public is decontextualized, it is imprecise and inaccurate and that, furthermore, it has been obtained irregularly”.
Meanwhile, the Government defended itself, pointing out that “has never harassed, persecuted or prosecuted journalists, politicians or citizens in general”but “has always been respectful of freedom of expression, even in the face of statements that could easily be considered infamy.”
Second round in doors
In the midst of all this situation, on October 15, Ecuadorians will go to the polls to elect the new president of the country, between Gonzalez and Noboa, who were the candidates with the most votes in the first round held on August 20, but whose results They were not enough to win the victory on that occasion.
These elections were called after Lasso decreed crusading death and dissolved the National Assembly, in addition to shortening his mandate, last May; decision he made when Parliament was carrying out a political trial against him.
Therefore, the authorities elected in these elections will only govern until May 2025, to finish the period that began in 2021.
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Source: RT
