Latin America is known to be rich in drugs, especially along the Caribbean coast. The greed of the people with huge profits has led to rampant gangs and unstoppable violence.
There are no eggs under the nest, even in neighboring countries that do not produce drugs, such as Ecuador.
Back in the 80s, Ecuador was also known as "Isla de Paz", which means "Island of Peace".
But its two neighbors, Colombia and Peru, are the two countries with the highest cocaine production in the world.
For the drug lords, Ecuador, which is caught in the middle, is close to the water, whether it is borrowing or opening up new sales channels.
However, the country does not yet have the strength to completely block out the drug cartels.
(Schematic diagram)
What was once an "island of peace" has become a "drug lord's paradise" in less than 20 years.
Last year, the streets of Ecuador were in desperate chaos, and then-President Guillermo Lasso simply changed the law to allow civilians to use guns.
The consequences of this "genius" move were:
The number of people killed by street violence in the country nearly doubled last year to 8,008, up from 4,500 the year before.
Lasso has been accused of corruption many times, has a very low approval rating, and has been impeached before, and after letting go of the firearm, the approval rating is even lower.
By May, the parliament had once again begun impeachment proceedings.
(Lasso)
Lasso may also have known that his president had not been able to do it, and simply quoted the "common death clause" in the Constitution.
This clause is literal, giving the president the right to dissolve the National Assembly at the cost of holding new elections.
If the support rate is high enough, it will be fine if it can be selected again, otherwise it will become a "self-detonating truck".
There is no doubt that Lasso is a "self-detonating truck".
He launched the "common death" in order to forcibly dissolve parliament before being impeached and save his last face.
He knew his situation well enough that he did not participate in the new election at all.
But what he didn't expect was that his selfish actions would indirectly trigger a political crisis in the country.
On the eve of the start of the new general elections, one of the presidential candidates, Fernando Villavicencio, was assassinated.
(Fernando Villavicencio)
Before his assassination, Villavicencio had always had the second-highest approval rating, and the probability of being elected was not small.
The bad thing is that he declared that he wants to fight gang violence, to crack down on the links between politicians and criminals, and to move the cake of some people.
So on the eve of the first round of voting, he died.
The seven suspects who killed him then died in prison in a strange way, and there was no proof of death.
(暗杀Villavicencio的七名嫌疑人死在狱中)
After that, Ecuador entered a two-month state of emergency, and the new general elections were stalled, and the results were finally reached in the second round of voting in October:
Daniel Noboa was elected a week before his 36th birthday, making him the youngest president in the world today.
(Daniel Noboa)
But the young president doesn't seem to have anything to be proud of.
In other words, the mess he faced didn't give him time to taste the taste of victory at all.
Just over a month after taking office, he caught up with the big drug lord to escape from prison.
大毒枭真名是Adolfo Macías,但人们都叫他Fito,是Los Choneros帮派的老大。
(Out)
The gang is powerful in Ecuador and has influence all over the officialdom, and its main business is drug trafficking, but it also does dirty work such as robbery, kidnapping, assassination, and smuggling.
They may have been involved in the assassination of Villavicencio,
A month before his death, Villavicencio received death threats from the Los Choreros gang, and he was given a team of security guards, as for the results...... Still couldn't save his life.
As the boss, Fito's charges are even more unspeakable. He was locked up as early as 2011, but the Ecuadorian authorities can't control the prison at all-
There are 36 prisons in the country, and at least 9 are controlled by gangs, and Fito can still "remotely control crimes" in them......
In 2020, Fito's former boss was killed, and he simply took over the baton in prison and did it well.
In August last year, Lasso, who had not yet abdicated, moved Fito to Ecuador's highest-security prison, using thousands of security personnel to do so.
(Fito who was escorted at the time)
However, just a few weeks later, a judge signed a document to transfer Fito back to his original prison, and all previous efforts were in vain.
"Come and don't be rude", Fito, who holds a grudge, simply filmed a MV in prison, with a big gold ring on his hand, stroking the fighting, and slapping Lasso's face with a bang.......
They ...... Who's in jail.......
(Fito appears in the MV)
Fortunately, Lasso doesn't have to suffer this anger now, and the new president Noboa will be angry in his place......
Nobora is a hardliner on drug cartels, and last month, he touted his solution to the prison problem, starting with cutting Fito's power supply and router:
"As you can see on YouTube, Fito's cell has four outlets, which is more than a hotel room. ”
According to an anonymous official, the authorities are still not giving up and are planning to transfer him and other high-profile criminals to the highest-security prison.
Then, unsurprisingly, the plan leaked out.
Last Sunday, Fito, who heard the news, disappeared directly from the world.
Judging by Fito's grip on the prison, he may have been on the run for an unknown amount of time, only to be found last Sunday.......
Noboya also had nothing to do, and once again declared a two-month state of emergency in the country, and at the same time sent a video to reassure the people:
"We will not negotiate with terror, we will not rest until peace is restored to the people. ”
(Noboya sent a video to reassure the people)
His hard-line attitude backfired,
Upon learning of Fito's escape, the drug cartel began to frantically "flex its muscles", and mass riots broke out inside and outside the prison,
There have been multiple explosions, vehicle burning, looting, and shootings across the country.
It has been confirmed by government agencies that at least 4 police officers have been kidnapped in different cities,
In five other prisons, prison guards were in turn detained by inmates........
(At least 5 prisons are detained)
The most outrageous thing is that a local TV station was broken into by masked gangsters during the live broadcast, and the anchor was called around, crawled on his knees and took a few beats........
This violent scene was broadcast live......
(Live Stream)
One of them asked the staff to give him a microphone, and he wanted to say "the end of going against the mafia.......
It's just that before he could open his mouth, the police came.
In the face of the heavily armed police, these rabble had only one way to kneel on the wall, and the arrogance just now was swept away.......
(The police announced the news on Twitter)
According to the information released by the police department on Twitter, 13 gangsters have been arrested, and their firearms and explosives have also been confiscated as evidence, awaiting legal punishment.
The staff of the television station are safe and sound, and they have now been properly accommodated.
It's a pity, it seems that this is the only thing that is very happy at the moment.
On Monday night local time, another big drug lord, Fabricio Colón, escaped from prison under the cover of riots.
According to local media, they appear to have set off an explosion inside the prison and took advantage of the chaos.......
(News from the local media, the original text is in Spanish, machine translation may be a bit strange)
Colón is the leader of the Los Lobos gang, which is still a split from Los Choneros.
According to the original development, Colón should be Fito's younger brother, but after Fito's predecessor was killed in 2020, Los Lobos had the idea of going it alone, taking advantage of the power vacuum to come out and stand on his own, calling himself a "new generation".
(Colón's Bounty)
It's not hard to imagine how disagreeable these two gangs are to each other.
Now that the "big brothers" of the two gangs are back, I don't know what to do......
On the other hand, the new president, Noboa, continued to be tough, sending a large number of troops to patrol the streets to maintain stability, and instructed them to kill gang members directly under humane conditions if necessary.
At the moment, tanks have even appeared on the streets of Ecuador.......
(Street Tank)
Noboa Says:
"The days when drug dealers, killers, and the underworld decided what the government should do is over!"
Will the young president's promises be kept, and will he be tough to the end?
I believe that time will give us an answer........