Ecuador | Silence and fear of gangs settle in the streets

(Quito) In the streets emptied by fear, the rare passers-by walk quickly, their eyes alert, and speak in low voices. Terror has taken hold in Ecuador with the escalation of the conflict between the armed forces and drug trafficking gangs.

Since Monday, gang members have kidnapped police officers and prison guards, opened fire in a television studio during a live broadcast, set off explosions in public places and threatened to execute people at random. According to the latest official report, 14 people were killed, including two police officers.

“Today, (I feel) a little anger, the fear was yesterday,” Fernando Escobar, owner of a café in the Ecuadorian capital, told AFP.

In his newsstand near a hospital in downtown Quito, Rocio Guzman says he can still hear the detonations of a shooting Tuesday afternoon a few blocks from his business resonating in his head.

“The stores closed, people were fleeing,” this 54-year-old shopkeeper told AFP, who on Wednesday only displayed a few magazines in the storefront for fear of being robbed.

She said she wanted to go shopping before going home, but “everything was closed.” “At eight o’clock in the evening, there was nothing, no cars, no stores” open, she explains.

In the port city of Guayaquil (southwest), victim of violence between gangs, as a point of export of cocaine to Europe and the United States, most hotels, offices and businesses were closed on Wednesday. The rare passers-by even avoided questions from journalists.

The wave of violence that paralyzes the country began on Sunday after the escape of Adolfo Macias, alias “Fito”, leader of the country’s main criminal gang, Los Choneros, followed by multiple mutinies in several penitentiary establishments. The government had just announced a few days earlier the construction of new high-security prisons.

“A lot of fear”

At La Carolina Park, in the financial heart of the capital, a heavy silence hovers above the usually busy sports facilities.

Few businesses are open and in some streets there are more police than passers-by.

“What makes us go out is the need to go to work, there is a lot of fear, we don’t know what will happen,” Daniel Lituma, 30, owner of a bakery, told AFP. in the historic center, near the government headquarters guarded by dozens of heavily armed soldiers.

He says he was shopping Tuesday with his wife when his employees alerted him to looting in progress. In the total absence of a bus, he started running to join his daughter in the bakery and then barricaded himself.

On Wednesday, a few buses were circulating, with a much lower frequency than usual. Waiting times at stops were long, but passengers were happy not to have to walk as much as the day before.

Solidarity took over: strangers shared available places in vehicles or gathered to walk together in order to exorcise the fear of being attacked.

Universities and schools have also closed their doors, providing classes virtually.

Companies that could let their employees telework, or granted part-time work, like Manuel Muñoz, a 34-year-old medical equipment salesman. He opted for an early return home, in the south of Quito, and with his elderly parents, he exchanges “news every hour” by telephone, he explains.

Santiago Enriquez, taxi driver, listens attentively to his radio and to messages from his colleagues. He is reassured to know his children are safe at home.

He is satisfied with the strong presence of the armed forces in the streets since the mobilization called by President Daniel Noboa to “neutralize” the approximately 20,000 members of the twenty or so drug gangs.

“They (the government) are going to act harder and that’s what people want to feel safe,” says Mr. Enriquez.