Gunmen in speedboats, carnage in prisons … ‘We do not deny that we are in the worst moment of violence in the country,’ says defence minister as embattled president clings to office
The attack came from the sea: more than two dozen masked gunmen were on the speedboat which roared in from the Pacific Ocean towards a fishing port in the Ecuadorian coastal city of Esmeraldas.Fishermen and dock workers ran for their lives – some diving into the water – as the assailants sprayed the quay with about 200 bullets. Nine people aged between 28 and 79 were killed in the 11 April massacre.
“We do not deny that we are in the worst moment of violence in the country,” said Ecuador’s defence minister, Juan Zapata, after the string of attacks exemplified just how routine gang violence has become in the small Andean nation. The unpopular conservative, 67, has battled repeated attempts to remove him from office by the majority political opposition in congress. They accuse him of failing to stop alleged corruption in the state-run oil shipping business – and allegation which he denies.
Burbano said the “least bad option” would be for Lasso to finish his mandate after two years of political instability which, he believes, has worsened the violence. More than 400 prison inmates have been killed – many burned alive or beheaded –since February 2021 and theas Mexican and Albanian cartels fight for cocaine trafficking routes to the US and Europe.
“It’s an extremely dangerous formula with a great capacity to finance and execute criminal acts and to move at all levels,” he said.
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