Firebombings and kidnappings are part of the commotion
that has embroiled Ecuador in heightened violence this week
and caused the president to invoke measures aimed at
combatting 'armed conflict'.
Analysis from the Washington Post bureau in Ecuador...
This week's chaos shows that Ecuador not only has
lost control of prisons and streets but also the country's
security aparatus, said Ecuadorian law professor
David Cordero-Heredia.
He argued that Noboa's executive order Tuesday was
a mistake because it grants an elevated "political status"
to the country's gangs by defining them as terrorists
and grants expanded powers to security forces suffering
from alleged corruption at the highest levels.
"They think they are commanders of a force that should be
obedient to them," he said of Noboa and his predecessor
(ex-presidente Lasso). "But they find the [security forces]
have their own agenda."
Despite three security rings in the country's prisons,
the country's most important gang leader managed to escape,
"mocking the security of police, prison guards and the military,"
Cordero-Herrera said.
"This only shows that the country's security forces
are not at the service of the government," he said, "but are
heavily infiltrated and at the service of organized crime."
Source... The Washington Post
