Jan. 10 (UPI) — Police in Ecuador arrested 13 people, confiscated weapons and explosives and freed hostages the gunmen had taken when they stormed a television station, authorities said, as President Daniel Noboa declared the violence that has erupted across the South American country “an internal armed conflict.”
The gunmen besieged the TC Television studio during a live broadcast in the coastal city of Guayaquil on Tuesday amid a wave of gang violence that has swept the country.
Video of the broadcast posted online shows people being taken hostage by gunmen brandishing weapons and explosives.
The National Police of Ecuador responded with specialized units who arrested more than a dozen of the suspects.
“The perpetrators will be brought to justice to be punished for the terrorist acts,” Ecuador Police Chief Gen. César Augusto Zapata Correa said in a statement on X.
The operation was one of several being executed by security officers across the country as Noboa, Ecuador’s newly inaugurated president, is seeking the squelch violence that has subsumed much of the country this week.
Noboa on Tuesday officially signed an executive decree declaring an “internal armed conflict” and identified some two dozen gangs as terrorist organizations.
He also mobilized the armed forces and police to carry out military operations “to neutralize these groups,” his office said in a statement.
“The groups mentioned in the decree have become a military objective,” Noboa’s office said.
The national police department has since been inundating its social media accounts with reports of arrests, posting blurred pictures of suspects and arrays of weapons officers have confiscated.
A statement published early Wednesday says 70 people have so far been arrested and three police officers who were taken hostage amid the violence have been rescued during the operations.
“Nothing will stop us, nor will we bow down to terrorist actions,” it said in a separate statement.
On Monday, Noboa had declared a 60-day state of emergency and a 11 p.m.-to-5 a.m. curfew after Adolfo “Fito” Macías, leader of the Los Choneros gang, escaped from prison over the weekend. Authorities also said riots erupted at various prisons.
“We are not going to negotiate with terrorists, nor will we rest until we return peace to all Ecuadorians,” Noboa said.
“The time is over in which those convicted of drug trafficking, hitmen and organized crime dictated to the government in power what to do.”
The Armed Forces of Ecuador has said that it is executing security operations “outside and inside the different detention centers in the country.”