Organized crime is once once more shaking the foundations of the State in Ecuador. César Suárez, an important Ecuadorian prosecutor who was investigating criminal groups, in addition to the takeover by a group of gang members of the public television channel TC TV, was shot dead this Wednesday inside his vehicle, while driving in the north of Guayaquil. They shot him 20 times without anyone being able to intervene, he did not have an escort. Suárez was handling some of the most important corruption cases in the country. “I don’t know how he has survived so long,” concedes a source who worked closely with the prosecutor.
The response from his colleagues has been overwhelming. The State Attorney General, Diana Salazar, has assured that Suárez’s death will not stop the progress of justice. “I am going to be emphatic: organized crime groups, criminals, terrorists, will not stop our commitment to Ecuadorian society. We will continue with more strength and commitment. We must be clear that this atrocious event brings with it a message for the work that we are carrying out through justice in Ecuador,” said Salazar. Next, she has asked the law enforcement forces to guarantee the safety of the officials and has been clear that her unit is already investigating the murder so that it does not go unpunished.
Suárez had taken charge of the investigation of the live takeover of a channel by some young people armed with guns and dynamite, eight days ago. The authorities believe that it was carried out by Los Tiguerones, an important gang behind much of the extortion that occurs in Guayaquil, the most populated city in the country and where the violence that has surrounded Ecuador for three years has been most felt. The Tiguerones began as a group made up of former prison guards turned criminals, but currently they are made up of thousands of members. It is unknown what their motives were for attacking the channel, but what is certain is that this event gave rise to a wave of violence that led President Daniel Noboa to decree a state of emergency due to “internal commotion,” which means that the Government assumes that it is waging a war within itself.
The prosecutor became known to the public in 2020, when he took charge of the most important corruption cases regarding the purchase of hospital materials during the pandemic. There the name of Daniel Salcedo first emerged, who was captured yesterday in Panama, where he was fleeing from justice. Salcedo also appears involved in the famous Metastasis case, a mega-operation to purge corruption in the judicial system, which is no small thing. In addition, he investigated mismanagement at Petroecuador, the former state oil company. The police colonel, Renato González, has highlighted on social networks that Suárez was “one of the few prosecutors who bravely and now I can say even with heroism, advanced in the investigations of the @Isspol case.” “Solidarity with the Ecuadorian Prosecutor’s Office and his family,” he concluded. His murder has caused a great commotion. Suárez was known for being implacable and incorruptible, according to several sources consulted. He was a great ally of investigative journalists, to whom he often gave clues that they should follow. It was evident that his life was in danger, especially in this last week, in which the gangs are committing attacks to force the president “to negotiate”, without it being completely clear what his demands are. For the moment, Noboa has deployed the army to the streets, imposed a curfew and, at least momentarily, regained control of the prisons, the nerve center of the gangs. These have gained extraordinary power since the port of Guayaquil, facing the Pacific Ocean, became the main cocaine trafficking route worldwide. In alliance with the Mexican cartels of Sinaloa and Jalisco Nueva Generación, the Choneros and Los Lobos, local gangs, have imposed their law.
The prosecutor left a police complex, where he had his office, and headed to a court to hold a hearing. According to what he reported less than 24 hours ago in the Ecuadorian newspaper El Universo, he did not have an escort, even though he had just interrogated the 13 detained for breaking into a live television program, which continued broadcasting for just over half an hour. The scene chilled the world, which turned its eyes to the decomposition that exists in the country. Organized crime has infiltrated the judiciary, the police and the army. It has mayors and governors on its payroll. The challenge for President Noboa, a young billionaire with very little political experience, is to stop the advance of the mafia, which threatens to take over all the resources of the State.
Ecuador lived days of fury following the live-streamed violence and the escape from prison of the main ringleaders of Los Choneros and Los Lobos, a dangerous criminal known as Fito and another named Fabricio Colón Pico. The two’s whereregardings are unknown. There were attacks on hospitals and police stations, murders and kidnappings in the streets and the taking of hostages in prisons throughout the country. Businesses closed and people confined themselves to their homes. The deployment of the army in the streets reduced the violence and in recent days Guayaquil seemed to regain its routine. However, it was a mirage. The cruel murder of prosecutor Suárez in broad daylight reminds us that the mafia is not going to give up its efforts to impose terror.