Men armed with bombs and grenades took over the studio of TC television, in the port city of Guayaquil, western Ecuador, shortly after gangsters declared a ‘war’ against the president’s efforts to regain control from ‘narcoterrorists.’
During the attack, a woman inside the studio was heard pleading, ‘Don’t shoot, please don’t shoot.’ The assailants, brandishing rifles and grenades, ordered the frightened crew to the ground. Despite the chaos, the live broadcast persisted for about 15 minutes.
A distressed TC employee remarked, ‘Please, they came in to kill us. God don’t let this happen. The criminals are on air.’
One of the hooded attackers defiantly declared, ‘We are on the air so that they know that we do not play with the mafia.’
Approximately 30 minutes into the ordeal, police officers finally entered the studio. Ecuador’s Police, on X (formerly Twitter), confirmed deploying units to the media premises.
These unsettling events in Ecuador come in the wake of a series of violent incidents, including explosions and the kidnapping of police officers.
This unrest intensified after Adolfo ‘Fito’ Macías, the leader of Los Choneros gang, mysteriously disappeared from a low-security prison cell on the same day he was set to be moved to a high-security facility.
Also, four officers were reported kidnapped and remained missing, with one in Quito and three in Quevedo.
| LIB
