Organized crime and drug trafficking reacted as they know to the declaration of the state of emergency in Ecuador: a night of terror to scare Ecuadorians and intimidate their president. Attacks, kidnappings, explosions, shootings and car bombs conspired for hours to ratify the worst omens in a country that no longer resembles what it was.
In the midst of such chaos, and despite the curfew, there was a new escape of national impact: Fabricio Colón Pico, one of the leaders of the Los Lobos gang, escaped from the Chimborazo prison after provoking a confrontation with police and correctional officers.
The mafia boss has only been behind bars for a few days, since he was arrested last week accused of kidnapping. Captain Colón, as he is called, was in the crosshairs of the State after Attorney General Diana Salazar denounced that she was preparing an attack against her.
The State has offered a reward to anyone who provides information about his whereabouts. What details are already known is how he engineered his escape: the police forces broke into the prison to quell the riot, but were met with strong resistance, which included explosives and firearms. Around 40 prisoners managed to evade the controls and regain freedom, although a dozen were recaptured in the following hours.
In this way, there are two leaders of organized crime who have fled from different prisons these days. The escape of Adolfo Macías Fito, leader of Los Choneros, a branch of the Sinaloa cartel in Ecuador, caused the current crisis, which has forced President Daniel Noboa to decree a state of emergency with the aim of the police and military regaining control. only from the prisons, also from the country.
At the moment, it seems quite the opposite. “You declared war and you are going to have war. Go out to fight in the streets yourself, do not use the police and military. Anyone found on the streets at night will be executed. Here it is a mafia, it is not a gang, self-conscious, wanting to be Bukele,” Second Corporal Sergio Polanco read the message addressed by his kidnappers to the president.
The police officer, half-naked and with several rifles pointed at him, staggeredly read the statement, frozen with fear. Next to him, also on the ground, were his two companions, captured in Machala and taken by boat to an unknown place. At least seven police officers were kidnapped by violent groups, which the government defines as narcoterrorists.
The situation is such that in the capital, Quito, the military has been deployed in the Metro, inaugurated last year, to protect it. Its mayor, Correísta Pabel Muñoz, has requested that other strategic facilities also be guarded during the state of emergency, which will last for 60 days.
