The victory sung by the president Daniel Noboa In its first battle of the “internal armed conflict” against the drug trafficking gangs that have put the Government in check, it has turned out to be hasty. The seizure of the prisons by the Armed Forces and the police as well as the military control of the cities had a few days later an atrocious response from the gangs that devastated that country. Prosecutor César Suárez, who was investigating the invasion of an armed group in the TC Televisión studios, fHe was shot this Wednesday while driving his car. The murderers knew their route and routines. Suárez did not have custody. He had left the Judicial Police headquarters minutes before. The bullets entered his head. The murderers fled in the face of general stupor.
The late prosecutor had been a member of the Violent Deaths Unit in the province of Manabí, one of the most shaken by the actions of the groups that have been considered terrorists by the State. He had had cases related to drug trafficking in his hands. However, he owed his notoriety to the investigation of corruption in hospitals during the pandemic.
Suárez had begun to follow the trail of the attack against the television installation, commanded by The Tiguerones, a split from Los Choneros, the main group that operates in Ecuador in alliance with the Mexican Sinaloa cartel. A first confirmation is that the weapons used had crossed the porous border with Peru.
🇪🇨 | THE LATEST: Prosecutor César Suárez becomes the new victim of organized crime, after being shot in the north of Guayaquil, Ecuador. pic.twitter.com/ZdVqfMklIn
— UHN PLUS (@UHN_Plus) January 17, 2024
Unexpected twist
The National Prosecutor, Diana Salazar, said that the Suárez crime is a “response to the work carried out by the authorities from Justice” to neutralize drug trafficking. “Organized crime groups, criminals and terrorists will not stop our commitment to Ecuadorian society.”
The episode has taken an unexpected turn to the “internal armed conflict.” A few hours before, General Victor Herreracommander of Police Zone 8, which includes the strategic districts of Guayaquil, Samborondón and Durán, had expressed his confidence that the military control of penitentiary centers It would contribute to reducing the level of fraudulent acts in cities. Prisons had become true centers of operations with daily impact in urban areas.
“If we have good control inside the prisons, We redistribute the detainees due to their dangerousness, we put the leaders of these terrorist groups in a prison, such as La Roca, and we isolate these people so that they do not have external contact, that the signal is inhibited, that they do not have a light supply, we are going to have a medium and long-term result that will be measured by the tranquility that we are going to have in the cities,” Herrera had confided. Noboa himself calculated that 50% of crimes are planned and ordered in prisons.
However, the news of the prosecutor’s murder has caused an immediate shock in political circles. The Government believed it was certain that after its decree, drug trafficking was entering a period of retreat.
The security crisis that exploded after the prison escapes of José Adolfo Macías, alias Fito, the leader of Los Choneros, and Fabricio Colón Pico, the leader of Los Lobos. Subsequently, 139 prison unit officials were taken hostages, eight murders and attacks were perpetrated. The raid on the TC Television studio was a serious situation that forced the State to go on the offensive. The murder of the prosecutor thus returns to a point of confusion.
Impact on the population
The news of the crime was known immediately and once again spread anxiety among Ecuadorians, especially the inhabitants of Guayaquil. “Yes, Ecuador went from being one of the calmest countries to the most violent in the regionbut that does not mean that its inhabitants have to withdraw into their homes to the point of ceasing to live their daily lives to live with the anxiety and fear imposed by the terrorists,” the newspaper noted. Express in his editorial. “Ecuadorians now have the opportunity to help law enforcement to regain lost peace of mind, making a presence in public spaces to boost the economy and pressure the exit of criminal groups. And we have to do it now, when the military and police presence is on the streets for their protection.”
In this context, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) and its Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression (RELE) condemned the violence that devastates Ecuador and asked the State “investigate, judge and punish all facts with diligence“. The IACHR recognized that the population suffers from “general anxiety” and made itself available to Noboa to cooperate in “the implementation of inter-American standards in the measures adopted to guarantee citizen security, the rule of law and the protection of journalists”.
Fear of poisoning of soldiers
Related news
The Suárez case has set off new alarms in the Armed Forces. A document from the General Staff warns about possible attempts to poison soldiers and police deployed in the streets. The military asked the population not to deliver prepared food to the soldiers and to channel donations through the Ministry of Economic and Social Inclusion (MIES). “Terrorist groups could pose as generous people, contaminating food, in order to minimize permanence and affect personnel so that they cannot carry out military operations; Therefore, it is our request that if the will exists, unprepared food be delivered.”
Aliases Fito in Colombia?
Colombian President Gustavo Petro reported that authorities are trying to confirm whether the leader of Los Choneros has crossed the Ecuadorian border to that country. “If it exists, if it is a reality, the order is to capture it. Police intelligence is working,” he said from Davos, where he was attending the World Economic Forum.