Anti-mafia prosecutor murdered in Ecuador

An anti-mafia prosecutor in Ecuador investigating the assault by armed men on the TC television channel on January 9 was murdered Wednesday, January 17, in the city of Guayaquil, the Prosecutor’s Office reported.

The murder of prosecutor Carlos Suárez was confirmed by Attorney General Diana Salazar in a video posted on X (formerly Twitter).

“In the face of the murder of our colleague César Suárez (…) I am going to be emphatic: organized crime groups, criminals, terrorists will not stop our commitment to Ecuadorian society,” Salazar said.                                                                                                                                                                                                                       Bullet holes                                                                                        

An official from the investigative body told AFP that Suárez had been in charge of determining which criminal group was behind the spectacular takeover in the middle of the broadcast of a program on the TC channel, during the recent crisis of drug-criminal violence in the country.

Local media broadcast images of Suárez’s truck with several bullet holes in the driver’s window.

A police official told AFP that “the investigative units are carrying out the relevant investigations to find those responsible” in the country’s main port, the center of drug trafficking operations.

The attack against the TC channel was one of the first criminal acts that Ecuador suffered after the escape of the powerful Adolfo Macías or “Fito”, head of the country’s main gang, confirmed on January 8.

It is still not clear who is behind that assault, in which hooded men threatened journalists and other workers with guns, rifles, and grenades.

Faced with the crisis unleashed, President Daniel Noboa declared an “internal armed conflict,” called criminal gangs “terrorists” and deployed thousands of soldiers.

In several prisons, inmates held more than 100 prison officials until their release on Saturday.

Prosecutor Salazar has reported death threats from Los Lobos, one of the main criminal organizations.

Ecuador was for many years a country safe from drug trafficking, but it has been transformed into a new bastion of drug trafficking to the US and Europe with gangs fighting for control of the territory and united in their war against the State.

In the last five years, the homicide rate per 100,000 inhabitants went from 6 to 46 in 2023.