Armed and masked gunmen stormed a television station in Ecuador during a live broadcast on Tuesday, taking the hosts hostage and calling for President Daniel Noboa to end his crackdown on organized crime.
The incident at TC Televisión, a state-owned network in Guayaquil, came amid widespread chaos and violence after Noboa declared a countrywide state of emergency on Monday.
The men who stormed the television station were arrested after a standoff with police.
Noboa called the unrest an “internal armed conflict,” saying the alleged perpetrators were “terrorists.” He deployed armed forces throughout the country to “establish control,” his office said in a post on X.
Noboa, who was elected last fall, had promised the public he’d make security and economic issues his priorities.
The state of emergency followed reports of a prison escape by José Adolfo Macías Villamar, known as “Fito,” an alleged leader of the Los Choneros gang, which is alleged to have ties to the Sinaloa cartel.
He had been convicted on charges including drug trafficking and homicide in 2011 and was being held in a high-security prison in Guyaquil.
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