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Ecuador comes to standstill after gunmen take over live TV broadcast

President designates 20 drug-trafficking gangs as terrorist groups, calls for military response
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Inmates stand on the top of Turi jail during a prisoner riot in Cuenca, Ecuador, Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2024. On Monday, President Daniel Noboa decreed a national state of emergency for 60 days, allowing the authorities to suspend rights and mobilize the military in places like prisons. (AP Photo/Xavier Caivinagua)

Schools and stores sat shuttered, many people stayed home and soldiers roamed the streets of Ecuador’s biggest cities Wednesday, the day after armed men invaded a television station’s live afternoon newscast and the president told the security forces to wipe out the drug gangs terrorizing the country.

The group wielding explosives and guns flashed across the televisions of Ecuadorians for 15 minutes on Tuesday as the intruders threatened and assaulted employees of the TC Televisión network’s station in the city of Guayaquil.

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