Prosecutor probing gang-related Ecuador TV studio attack shot dead

A prosecutor investigating the dramatic live-broadcast armed assault last week on an Ecuadoran television station has been shot dead, the country's attorney general said.

"In the face of the murder of our colleague Cesar Suarez... I am going to be emphatic: organised crime groups, criminals, terrorists will not stop our commitment to Ecuadoran society," said Attorney General Diana Salazar in a statement on X on Wednesday.

Local media broadcast images of Suarez's truck with bullet holes through the driver's window on the street in the port city of Guayaquil, the nerve centre of Ecuador's war against narco gangs.

The murder comes amid a surge in violence in the once-peaceful South American country, which has become a hub for the global export of cocaine from neighbouring Colombia and Peru.

The government last week declared war on powerful drug gangs, who in turn threatened to execute civilians and security forces and carried out a wave of attacks that have left about 20 people dead.

Last Tuesday, hooded gunmen burst into a TV studio, firing shots and forcing terrified staff to the ground in an incident broadcast live for about 30 minutes until police arrived on set. Thirteen assailants were arrested, many of them teenagers.

A prosecution source told the AFP news agency Suarez had been in charge of determining which criminal group was behind that attack.

Nearly 2,000 arrested

Ecuador has suffered a recent burst of violence, including the gunmen interrupting the broadcast at TC Television in Guayaquil, the hostage-taking of more than 200 prison staff, explosions in several cities and the kidnapping of police officers.

In response, President Daniel Noboa declared a 60-day state of emergency, including a nighttime curfew, and designated 22 criminal groups as terrorist organizations.

Almost 2,000 suspects have been detained following the violence, according to authorities.

Some 158 of the people arrested are prosecuted for terrorism. Authorities also claim to have killed five alleged members of the gangs now classified as terrorists, while two police officers were murdered and another eleven were freed from different kidnappings apparently carried out by these groups.

Since last Tuesday, 728 firearms, 41 gun feeders, nearly 21,200 bullets and 521 explosives have been seized. Police forces have also seized more than 6 tons of drugs and nearly $6,000 in cash.

The government reports there have been 13 attacks on public and private infrastructure and twelve on police institutions.

Last week's violent events began after Adolfo Macias, a notorious gang leader vanished from prison. The leader of the Los Choneros criminal gang, who disappeared from the prison cell where he was serving a 34-year sentence, is still missing.

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Source: TRT