In Cristo del Consuelo — a neighborhood known for its street parties and clandestine dance clubs — residents were left shaken after the 3 a.m. blast, authorities said, as the men arrived IN motorcycle and dropped a bag filled with explosives on the road. The explosion sent a shock wave that was felt up to 230 meters away, Carrillo said. The road remained covered in rubble, bodies and blood.
Among the victims was a woman who was standing near her balcony before the explosion hit. The owner of a canteen and a taxi driver were also killed at the scene, El Universo reported. Eight houses and two cars were destroyed in the explosion, the country’s National Emergency and Risk Management Service said. I tweet.
Longtime residents say there has been an escalation in organized crime activity, drug trafficking, murders and robberies over the past decade.
“We would give anything to not live here anymore. We are living a nightmare,” one of the victims’ family members told the local newspaper GK.
The motive for the attack remains unclear. However, at a press conference on Sunday, Carrillo said preliminary information indicated it was a targeted attack on a man known as “Cucaracha” – or the cockroach – who is believed to have ties to Los Tiguerones, one of the most feared gangs. of Ecuador. Officials are also investigating whether the blast is connected to three other violent incidents on the same weekend or a drug bust from earlier this month, he added.
However, the investigation has been challenged by an apparent lack of cooperation from witnesses, Carrillo said. None of the injured residents wanted to talk to authorities, he said. Although there is a $10,000 reward for helpful information, tips have yet to come through.
In an effort to curb the growing violence, Ecuadorian President Guillermo Lasso declared a state of emergency in Guayaquil, which will allow the immediate mobilization of multiple law enforcement agencies, including those dealing with criminal investigations, combat against organized crime, weapons and explosives, and transnational crimes. The order also empowers agencies to break up meetings in public spaces and conduct inspections and searches at citizens’ homes.
On Monday, the Ecuadorian police conducted 11 home checks in Guayaquil, where they arrested five people and seized explosives and weapons. Law enforcement officers also arrested two people after discovering they were in possession of homemade explosives similar to those used in the Cristo del Consuelo attack, the country’s Interior Ministry said. I tweet. As of early Tuesday, no one had been formally charged with setting off the explosives on Sunday.
Of the 145 explosive-related attacks in Ecuador this year, 72 have occurred in Guayaquil, which has become the epicenter of the surge in violence, according to government figures.
This is probably due to the strategic location of the city. Home to the country’s main port, Guayaquil is a major transit point for drugs flowing from neighboring Colombia and Peru, the world’s top cocaine producers. The rivalry to control what the non-profit investigative media outlet InSight Crime has deemed “a cocaine highway to the US and Europe” has had devastating effects in Ecuador as gangs use brutal tactics to crush competition.
The violence has mostly occurred inside the country’s overcrowded and under-resourced prisons, where gang clashes have killed hundreds in recent years. However, more and more blood is being spilled on the streets. On February 14, two corpses were seen hanging from a bridge. A day later, a severed head was found inside a bag. Gangs are now planting improvised explosive devices and car bombs.
Although the latest incidents seem particularly horrific, officials say the violence has been going on for more than a decade.
“This is not a problem that arose yesterday, nor six months ago, nor a year ago,” Ecuadorian government minister Francisco Jiménez Sánchez said on Sunday. “These are conditions that have dragged on especially for the last 15 years.”
