What's going on in Ecuador? TV station attack prompts president to declare war on armed gangs

• Ecuador President Daniel Noboa has declared a state of "internal armed conflict" and identified more than 20 gangs as terrorist groups, making them military targets.
• The directive came shortly after days of violence culminated in an extraordinary attack when masked men on Tuesday broke onto the set of a public television channel in the port city of Guayaquil.
• Traditionally a peaceful country, a surge in violence in Ecuador in recent years has been linked to fighting between drug gangs.

Ecuador is in crisis mode, as it struggles to tackle a bloody drug war.

President Daniel Noboa, who vowed to "restore peace" when he came into power in November, has declared a state of "internal armed conflict" and designated more than 20 gangs as terrorist groups, making them military targets.

"I have ordered the Armed Forces to carry out military operations to neutralize these groups," Noboa said Tuesday on the X social media platform, formerly known as Twitter, according to a Google translation.

The directive came shortly after days of violence culminated in an attack during which masked men broke onto the set of a public television channel in Guayaquil, considered to be the country's most dangerous city.

Waving guns and explosives, the intruders forced staff of the TC Television network to the floor during a live broadcast, while noises similar to gunshots could be heard in the background.

No one was killed in the attack, and authorities said that 13 people were arrested and will be charged with terrorism offenses.

Guillaume Long, former foreign minister of Ecuador and a senior policy analyst at the Center for Economic and Policy Research, said Tuesday that the country's security situation had spun "out of control."

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