Armed Men Storm TV Station During Live Broadcast

Ecuador's president says country has entered a state of 'internal armed conflict'
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Jan 9, 2024 5:20 PM CST

Masked men broke onto the set of a public television channel in Ecuador waving guns and explosives during a live broadcast Tuesday, and the president issued a decree declaring that the South American country had entered an "internal armed conflict." The men, armed with pistols and what looked like sticks of dynamite, entered the set of the TC Television network in the port city of Guayaquil and shouted that they had bombs, the AP reports. Noises similar to gunshots could be heard in the background. It was not immediately clear if any station personnel were injured.

Alina Manrique, the head of news for TC Television, said she was in the control room, across from the studio, when the group of masked men entered the building. One of the men pointed a gun at her head and told her to get on the floor, Manrique said. Some of the assailants ran from the studio and tried to hide elsewhere in the building when they realized they were surrounded by police, she said. "I am still in shock," Manrique tells the AP. "Everything has collapsed .... All I know is that its time to leave this country and go very far away."

Ecuador has been rocked by a series of attacks, including the abductions of several police officers, in the wake of a powerful gang leader's apparent weekend escape from prison. President Daniel Noboa said Monday that he would declare a national state of emergency, a measure that lets authorities suspend people's rights and mobilize the military in places like prisons. Shortly after the gunmen stormed the TV station, Noboa issued another decree designating 20 drug trafficking gangs operating in the country as terrorist groups and authorizing Ecuador's military to "neutralize" these groups within the bounds of international humanitarian law.

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Ecuador's national police chief announced a short time later that authorities had arrested all the masked intruders. Police commander César Zapata told the TV channel Teleamazonas that officers seized the guns and explosives the gunmen had with them. He said 13 people were arrested. "This is an act that should be considered as a terrorist act," Zapata said.

(More Ecuador stories.)

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