Mucarsel-Powell was born in Guayaquil and arrived in the U.S. with her mother and sisters when she was 14 in the 1970s, when military dictators ruled the country. When she was 24, her father was killed by criminal gun violence in Ecuador.
Despite witnessing tanks in the streets when she was growing up, “I have never seen the penetration of cartels using violent means to kill police officers and take police officers hostage,” she said. “This is a situation that could very quickly result in an internal civil war.”
“I remember what it felt like to leave a country where you have political corruption, incivility and violence — that brings back memories, and I am just extremely concerned for the entire Ecuadorian community.”
On Thursday, Ecuador’s President Daniel Noboa, gave details on plans for two high-security prisons after he declared on Wednesday that the country was “at war and we cannot cede in the face of these terrorist groups.”
His declaration came after Ecuadorians, and then the rest of the world with the help of television and social media, saw masked gunmen take over a public television station in the port city of Guayaquil and hold its staff at gunpoint before police moved in. The country has also been rocked by several explosions, the abduction of police officers, prison guards and staff, and several killings, including of police officers.
The country has been seeing violence grow as drug traffickers try to seize control of ports and passage for illegal drugs, particularly cocaine.
On Thursday, police evacuated people from a terminal near the public transport station in the nation’s capital, Quito, in response to what turned out to be a fake bomb threat, The Associated Press reported.
Katy Carrillo, 53, of Orlando, Florida, said most of her family still lives in Ecuador, with some in Quito and others in Guayaquil — and they’re all scared.
Family members have told her they try not to leave their homes “but sometimes we all have…
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