#ecuador prison riot

[brexiiton]

Ecuador 'in state of war' against drug cartels' terror campaign

Schools and stores are shuttered, people are staying home as soldiers roam the streets of Ecuador's biggest cities.

Members of Ecuador's armed forces patrol a street during a security operation in the capital, Quito. [AFP]

With city streets largely deserted apart from a massive military deployment, Ecuador found itself in a "state of war" as drug cartels waged a brutal campaign of kidnappings and attacks in response to a government crackdown.

Hundreds of soldiers patrolled the capital, Quito, where residents were gripped by fear over a surge in violence that has also prompted alarm abroad.

The small South American country has been plunged into crisis after years of increasing control by transnational cartels that use its ports to ship cocaine to the United States and Europe.

The latest outburst of violence was sparked by the discovery on sunday of the prison escape of one of the country's most powerful narco bosses, Jose Adolfo Macias, known by the alias "Fito".

On Monday, President Daniel Noboa imposed a state of emergency and nighttime curfew, but the gangs hit back with declaration of "war" - threatening to execute civilians and security forces.

They also instigated numerous prison riots, set off explosions in public places and waged attacks in which at least 14 people have been killed.

More than 100 prison guards and administrative staff have been taken hostage, the prisons authority said.

In the port city of Guayaquil, attackers wearing balaclavas stormed a state-owned TV station on Tuesday, briefly taking several journalists and staff members hostage and firing shots in dramatic scenes broadcast live before police arrived.

Local media reported some of the attackers were as young as 16.

This attack, in particular, spread panic among the general population, many of whom left work and closed shops to return to the safety of their homes.

"Today we are not safe, anything can happen," said Luis Chiligano, a 53-year-old security guard in Quito who explained he was opting to hide rather than confront "the criminals, who are better armed".

Noboa said on Wednesday that the country was now in a "state of war," as he promised not to yield to the gangs.

Ecuador's President Daniel Noboa gave orders on Tuesday to 'neutralise' the criminal gangs after gunmen stormed and opened fire in a TV studio, as bandits threatened random executions. [AFP]

Gangs declared war on the government after Noboa announced a state of emergency following the prison escape pm January 7 of one of Ecuador's most powerful narco bosses. [AFP]

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was 'very much alarmed by the deteriorating situation in the country as well as its disruptive impact on the lives of Ecuadorans,' according to his spokesperson Stephane Dujarric. [AFP]

Peru declared a state of emergency on its border with Ecuador, sending an additional 500 police and soldiers to secure the frontier. [AFP]

China's embassy and consulates in Ecuador suspended services to the public, while France and Russia advised citizens against travel to the country. [AFP]

Brian Nichols, the top US diplomat for Latin America, said Washington was 'extremely concerned,' pledging to provide assistance and 'remain in close contact' with Noboa's team [AFP]

Colombia's army also announced it was bolstering border security. [AFP]

Ecuador's murder rate quadrupled from 2018 to 2022 and last year was the worst yet, with 7,800 murders in a population of about 17 million, and a record 220 tonnes of drugs seized. [AFP]

[workersolidarity]

[ 📹 Ecuadorian drug traffickers take prison guards and police officers hostage and assassinate them on camera in a series of coordinated attacks across the South American country.]

🇪🇨 💀 🔞 🚨

ECUADOR ERUPTS INTO VIOLENCE AND CHAOS AFTER CARTELS DECARE "WAR ON THE STATE", ARMED FORCES OF ECUADOR DEPLOY TROOPS

A State of Emergency was declared by the Ecuadorian President after a series of terrorist attacks, prison riots and kidnappings exploded into a day of chaos, after drug cartels declared "War on the State".

After a series of explosions, abductions of police officers, prison riots, the escape of a notorious gang leader from a high-security prison, and the storming of a live-tv broadcast of channel TC by gang members waving firearms and accosting television crews, the President of Ecuador declared a State of Emergency Wednesday, determining 22 of the nation's most prominent gangs to be terrorist organizations, announcing that the South American country was experiencing "internal armed conflict," and issueing a decree that included a curfew, which the gangs immediately violated.

Videos showing prison guards being subdued and killed have gone viral, while the search for "The Cheneros" gang leader, Jose Macias (aka Fito), goes on as the elusive criminal with ties to Mexican cartels evades capture.

Meanwhile, an explosive device was detonated in the vicinity of the residence of Ecuadorian Supreme Court President, Ivan Saquicela, in the Ecuadorian capital, Quito, and several police officers have been kidnapped across the country.

Riots also broke out in several cities, with scenes of running crowds escaping explosions and gunfire, cars burning in the streets, the looting of warehouses, and the destruction of public infrastructure.

Several videos have also gone viral showing the assassination of police officers and prison guards.

The rioting Ecuadorian criminal organizations killed two police officers, Corporals Alex Taday and Luis Guanotuña in Nobol, located in the Guayas province.

In response to the violence, the Armed Forces of Ecuador have been mobilized, with troops deploying in several cities across the country in areas where riots and looting have broken out over the last day.

Reports from Ecuadorian Forces say more than 70 people tied to the violence and others with links to criminal enterprises have been detained, while three police officers being held hostage have been released.

The Armed Forces of Ecuador also added that 17 escaped prisoners were re-captured, adding that they had also seized weapons, ammunition and explosives from the armed groups.

Meanwhile, the Ecuadorian legislature announced blanket pardons and amnesties related to operations targeting the drug traffickers.

The President's decree determined the following organizations to be "terrorist organizations and belligerent non-state actors":

Aguilas, AguilasKiller, Ak47, Caballeros Oscuros, ChoneKiller, Choneros, Corvicheros, Cuartel de las Feas, Cubanos, Fatales, Ganster, Kater Piler, Lagartos, Latin Kings, Los Lobos, Los p.27, Los Tiburones, Mafia 18, Mafia Trebol, Patrones, R7 and Tiguerones.

#LinkToMoreVideos

#source1

#source2

#source3

#source4

#videosource

@WorkerSolidarityNews

[warningsine]

QUITO, Ecuador (AP) — A bomb threat sent an anti-explosives unit scrambling into a bustling area of Ecuador’s tense capital Thursday while authorities in an eastern city reported a nightclub arson killed two people as the South American country staggers under a spike of violence blamed on drug gangs.

Police in the capital, Quito, said they evacuated people from the area surrounding the Playón de la Marín bus station when they were alerted about a backpack with an alleged explosive placed in a garbage can.

The backpack turned out to not have any explosives, authorities said, but it followed five similar incidents in the capital Wednesday with actual explosives. Those bombs — in two vehicles, at a pedestrian bridge and near a prison — caused minor damage but no deaths or injuries.

Meanwhile, authorities said unknown suspects set fire to a nightclub in the Amazon city of Coca, killing at least two people and injuring nine others. The blaze, which spread to 11 nearby stores, is under investigation, officials said.

Ecuador is in the grips of a crime wave tied to drug trafficking gangs. Ecuadoreans worry the violence will only escalate in a country where a presidential candidate was assassinated last year.

President Daniel Noboa, who earlier this week declared an emergency and a virtual war on the gangs by authorizing the military to act against them, said Thursday that Ecuador needs “tougher laws, honest judges” and the possibility of extraditing dangerous criminals in order to fight terrorism and organized crime.

“We are not going to let a group of terrorists stop the country,” Noboa said in a recorded message sent to media outlets in which he also presented the design of two new prisons. He said the corrections system has been “controlled by mafias” for decades and is in urgent need of new facilities.

Noboa said prisons will be built in two provinces and each will have super-, maximum- and high-security units and will be equipped with technology to block cellphone and satellite signals. He previously said the new prisons would be ready in 10 to 11 months.

Many people are staying at home and schools and stores have been shuttered as soldiers patrol the streets of Ecuador’s biggest cities.

Tensions heightened Tuesday when a group of men wielding explosives and guns invaded a television station’s live afternoon newscast in Guayaquil, the Pacific port city that has been the epicenter of a surge in violence that began roughly three years ago. Ecuadorians watched as the intruders threatened and assaulted employees at the station. No one was killed and 13 suspects were arrested, but the violent broadcast stunned much of the region.

Ecuadorian authorities attribute the country’s spike in violence to a power vacuum prompted by the killing in 2020 of Jorge Zambrano, alias “Rasquiña” or “JL,” the then-leader of the local Los Choneros gang. Members carry out contract killings, run extortion operations, move and sell drugs, and rule prisons.

Ecuador’s neighbors, Colombia and Peru, are the world’s largest cocaine producers. Los Choneros, one of the country’s most violent gangs, and similar groups linked to Mexican and Colombian cartels are fighting over drug-trafficking routes and control of territory, including in prisons, where more than 450 inmates have been slain since 2021.

A February 2021 riot among rival gang members at Ecuador’s most violent prison left at least 79 inmates dead. The following September, 116 inmates were killed in another gang battle at the same Litoral prison, with several of them beheaded.

The violence has spread from prisons to the streets, turning the once-peaceful Ecuador into one of the most violent countries in the region. Last year was Ecuador’s bloodiest on record, with more than 7,600 homicides, up from 4,600 in the prior year.

Gang members in prisons throughout the country have taken corrections personnel hostage since Sunday, when the current leader of Los Choneros vanished from prison.

On Thursday, inmates managed to increase to 178 the number of corrections personnel they are holding hostage, according to the prisons agency. A union that represents prison employees has asked officials to guarantee the “physical and psychological integrity” of the hostages.

Noboa, who took office in November, won a special presidential election with the promise of reducing the terrifying, drug-driven crime wave within 1 1/2 years in office. His anti-crime campaign proposals range from turning ships into floating jails to getting police more equipment.

[news-of-the-day]

7/26/23

The Nigerien presidential guards are holding President Bazoum and his family. The presidency is claiming that the guards tried to garner support from the army, which did not agree and is now threatening to attack the guards if the president isn't released. West Africa in the past few years has been under a wave of coups, and Niger itself had an attempted one just before Bazoum was sworn in.

Israel's Supreme Court said it would hear a case challenging the constitutionality of the recent judicial overhaul. I wonder if this would lead to a constitutional crisis if the court strikes it down but the Knesset just ignores that order.

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, who has been in office since 1998, said he was stepping down next month and that his son Hun Manet would take over.

Two Atlanta election workers are suing Giuliani for defamation after he made claims they helped manipulate ballots in the 2020 election, and Giuliani today admitted in court documents that he made false statements but says they're constitutionally protected. I'm not a lawyer so please keep in mind I may be wrong about this, but from my understanding he's admitting this to stop the discovery procedure, i.e. the part of the trial where you have to relinquish communications, documents, etc. In the Dominion/Fox case, Dominion's lawyers combed through everything they received from discovery and then put every embarrassing internal communications in court for the world to see. Giuliani probably doesn't want the same thing to happen to him, and so by conceding he made false statements he can move onto the next stage where his lawyers put in a motion to dismiss on the merits alone, which in this case would be probably "yes, I made false statements, but you're allowed to do that." It's not the best legal defense but he probably doesn't have much of a choice. I'm going to talk to a few lawyer friends and will update in a few days if I was incorrect about what I stated above. Giuliani is also still facing a defamation lawsuit from Dominion for a huge amount of money.

There was a massive prison riot in Ecuador. It started in the country's largest prison El Litoral, but spread to others. There was overcrowding in El Litoral, which led to tensions and violence between rival gangs housed there, so some prisoners were moved to other facilities to ease the situation. However when a riot broke out in El Litoral, members who were moved out heard about it and started rioting in their own prisons. So far 31 inmates have been found dead and over 100 guards were held hostage, although most have been released.

1) BBC, Al Jazeera 2) NYT 3) Reuters 4) Politico, Guardian 5) BBC

[newstfionline]

Thursday, January 11, 2024

Global economy headed for worst half-decade in 30 years, World Bank warns (Washington Post) The global economy will slow in 2024 for the third straight year and appears headed for its weakest half-decade since the early 1990s, the World Bank said Tuesday in its latest annual forecast. While higher interest rates appear to be bringing inflation under control without the serious financial crisis or soaring unemployment that many had feared, the global economy’s overall performance is lagging, said Indermit Gill, the bank’s top economist. The continuing slowdown all but guarantees that world leaders will fail to meet the 2030 development goals that 193 members of the United Nations, including the United States, agreed to in 2015. Governments pledged to transform the global economy by the end of this decade by setting 17 ambitious aims, including eliminating extreme poverty. “The 2020s have so far been a period of broken promises. Governments across the world have fallen short of the ‘unprecedented’ goals they promised to meet by 2020,” Gill wrote in a foreword to the report, which labeled the outlook “wretched.” In a quarter of the world’s developing countries, people are poorer today than they were before the pandemic, the bank said.

Massive winter storm sweeps U.S. with flooding, tornadoes, power outages (Washington Post) The massive storm that swept across the central and eastern United States on Monday and Tuesday left few places untouched, unleashing widespread strong winds, heavy snow and blizzard conditions, flooding rains and tornadoes. At least four deaths have been confirmed as a result of severe thunderstorms and tornadoes, and several more reports of deaths are expected. At its peak, the storm cut power to more than 1 million customers and over half a million were still in the dark Wednesday morning.

Democrats say Biden must notify Congress about Israel arms transfers (Washington Post) More than a dozen Senate Democrats said Tuesday that they will seek to block President Biden’s request to skirt congressional oversight of arms transfers to Israel, the latest signal of frustration among members of his own political party who have recoiled at the stunning civilian death toll resulting from Israel’s offensive in Gaza. Led by Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.), the push comes as more Democrats, historically stalwart backers of the Jewish state, have urged the president to step up efforts to rein in America’s chief ally in the Middle East. International human rights groups have accused Israel of conducting indiscriminate bombing in Gaza amounting to war crimes. Nearly 23,000 Palestinians have been killed in the past three months of fighting in the densely populated enclave, according to Gaza health officials, as Israel wages a devastating campaign in retaliation for the cross-border attack by Hamas militants that left 1,200 dead.

Family Size (Max Planck Society) Declining birth rates and longer lifespans as global standards of living rise are projected to cause significant changes to what family looks like on a global scale over the coming decades, a new study out of the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research argues. In general, the number of relatives that a typical earthling will have is projected to drop 35 percent. In North America and Europe—where the average 65-year-old woman had 25 living relatives in 1950—by 2095 a woman that age will average 15.9 living relatives. This has implications beyond mere family structure, particularly when it comes to intergenerational caregiving and social support structures.

Ecuador Plunges Into Crisis Amid Prison Riots and Gang Leader’s Disappearance (NYT) Gunmen wearing masks stormed a television station in Ecuador’s largest city on Tuesday, taking anchors and staff hostage and exchanging gunfire with the police as cameras rolled before the intruders were subdued and arrested. The televised violence, captured live, erupted in the city of Guayaquil as the South American country has descended into chaos this week, with a powerful gang leader disappearing from prison, uprisings breaking out in several prisons and inmates kidnapping and threatening guards. One of the attackers who stormed the TV station could be heard on the air asking to be wired up with a microphone, saying he intended to send a message about the consequences of “messing with the mafias.” Before he could, the police intervened. The armed men also forced the anchors and other staff being held hostage to appear in a video asking the president not to interfere. Explosions, burning vehicles, looting and gunfire were also reported across the country, and the authorities announced that a second major gang leader and other inmates had escaped from another prison.

Argentina monthly inflation seen at highest since 1990 (Reuters) Argentina’s monthly inflation rate likely soared to 28% in December, which would be the highest since early 1990, driven by a sharp devaluation of the peso currency last month by the new government of libertarian President Javier Milei. The median forecast from 20 local and foreign analysts polled by Reuters underscores the challenge facing the South American grains giant, with annual inflation set to top 200% for the year, one of the highest rates in the world.

German railways grind to near halt in three-day train drivers strike (Reuters) Hundreds of thousands of people faced train cancellations across Germany from Wednesday, as a three-day nationwide rail strike added to travel chaos in Europe’s largest economy, where ongoing farmers’ protests have also snarled road traffic. The GDL train drivers’ union began its main strike in the early hours of Wednesday, joining one by cargo train drivers who walked out on Tuesday evening. The strikes will continue until Friday evening, forcing national rail operator Deutsche Bahn to run only stripped-back emergency timetables. One in five long-distance high-speed rail services were running and regional services have been “massively thinned out”, a Deutsche Bahn spokesperson told reporters at Berlin’s central station, empty of its usual crowds.

As U.S. Support for Ukraine Falters, Europe Splits on Filling the Gap (NYT) In Estonia, a four-story banner that combines the flags of Ukraine and Estonia hangs over a main square in the capital, Tallinn. In Latvia, Foreign Minister Krisjanis Karins is calling for allies to “ramp up military support to Ukraine without delay.” And the leader of Lithuania recently made a pointed plea to help Kyiv hold the line against invading Russian forces as support for Ukraine in the war elsewhere in Europe threatens to fragment. With additional American aid in doubt, European leaders face the prospect of having to fill as much of the gap as they can to maintain support for Ukraine. But the financial retreat by the United States, which has provided more military aid than any other single country to Ukraine, could give political cover to European officials looking to diminish their backing for the war. Overall support for the war effort is waning. A poll conducted by the European Commission and released last month showed that backing among Europeans for giving Ukraine additional financial and military aid dropped slightly this past fall from the summer.

With threats, pressure and financial lures, China seen as aiming to influence Taiwan’s elections (AP) Using military threats, diplomatic pressure, fake news and financial inducements for politicians, China is being accused of deploying a broad strategy to influence voters in Taiwan’s elections to pick candidates who favor unification. China’s ultimate goal is to take control of the self-governing island democracy, whose high-tech economy supplies key components for computers, cellphones and other electronic devices and ships much of the world’s goods out from the Taiwan Strait. Beijing has long insisted Taiwan is part of China and must be regained, by military force if necessary, regardless of the views of the island’s people. China has been sending warships and fighter jets near Taiwan on a near-daily basis in recent years, hoping to intimidate the island’s 23 million people and wear down its military, which relies heavily on support from the United States. China has described Saturday’s elections as a choice between war and peace.

West Bank killings (Washington Post) Settlers killed a Palestinian teen. Israeli forces didn’t stop it, a Washington Post review of exclusive visuals of the attack, medical records and interviews found: Threats were sent via Facebook on Oct. 9 to residents of Qusra, a Palestinian community in the Israeli-occupied West Bank: “To all the rats in the sewers of Qusra village we are waiting for you and we will have no mercy. The day of revenge is coming.” Two days later, a group of masked and armed Israeli settlers struck the village in what would be the deadliest attack by settlers in the West Bank since the war began three months ago, according to Israeli rights organization Yesh Din. The Post examination reveals that one of the Palestinians killed, 17-year-old Obada Saed Abu Srour, was shot in the back by settlers, probably as he was running from gunfire. Israeli troops nearby, meanwhile, did not forcefully intervene, despite their obligation under international and Israeli law to protect all residents of the West Bank, including Palestinians.

A Glimpse Inside a Devastated Gaza (NYT) Since Hamas and other armed Palestinian groups attacked Israel on Oct. 7, killing about 1,200 people, according to officials, Israel has pummeled Gaza from the air and captured large parts of it on the ground, leading to widespread death and destruction. About 23,000 Gazans have been killed in the Israeli campaign, according to Gazan officials—approximately 1 percent of the population. More than 80 percent of the enclave’s residents have been displaced, according to the United Nations. Some 60 percent of the buildings have been damaged, the U.N. has also said. As we traveled through central Gaza on Monday, every village bore the marks of war. Some buildings had collapsed entirely, their floors stacked on top of the other like piles of books. Tower blocks, missing whole sections, stood precariously. A house in Bureij was missing an outer wall. A grove of trees next door had been leveled, the plants ripped from their roots and the land churned into mud. “They destroyed everything—the buildings, the infrastructure, the farmlands,” Hazem al-Madhoun, 35, an aid worker who was sheltering nearby with his family on Monday morning, said of the Israeli military.

US Navy and UK Royal Navy shoot down 18 Houthi drones and 3 missiles (ABC News) The U.S. Navy and the U.K.’s Royal Navy foiled a major Houthi attack Tuesday night in the Red Sea, shooting down 18 one-way drones and three missiles targeting commercial ships. The incident began at around 9:15 p.m. local time when the Houthis launched “Iranian-designed one-way attack” drones, “anti-ship cruise missiles, and an anti-ship ballistic missile,” Centcom said in a post on X. According to Centcom, the weapons were launched from Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen. The Houthi missiles and drones were targeting an area where dozens of merchant vessels were transiting, Centcom said Tuesday night. All of the drones and missiles were shot down by fighter jets from Navy carrier the USS Eisenhower, three U.S. Navy destroyers and the U.K.’s HMS Diamond, according to Centcom. Tuesday night’s attack marks the 26th Houthi attack on commercial shipping lanes since Nov. 19.

[thenewsart]

Ecuador Shaken by Days of Terror After Gang Leader’s Disappearance

A sense of dread took hold in Ecuador on Wednesday, with the streets empty, schools closed and many people afraid to leave their homes after the disappearance of two gang leaders on Monday set off prison riots, police kidnappings and the on-air storming of a TV station. Even for a country accustomed to violence, the events that have rocked Ecuador this week were shocking. “I feel like the world I…

[julissadesigns]

Listen to the most recent episode of my podcast: Ecuador Plunges Into Crisis , president declared state of emergency https://anchor.fm/julissadesigns/episodes/Ecuador-Plunges-Into-Crisis---president-declared-state-of-emergency-e2e7rog

[antonio-velardo]

Antonio Velardo shares: Ecuador Plunges Into Crisis Amid Prison Riots and Gang Leader’s Disappearance by Annie Correal

By Annie Correal Since the gang leader went missing, the country has experienced prison riots and kidnappings, and the president declared a nationwide state of emergency. Published: January 9, 2024 at 04:57PM from NYT World https://ift.tt/oKQZtuA via IFTTT

[businesspr]

Ecuador Plunges Into Crisis Amid Prison Riots, Kidnappings

Since the gang leader went missing, the country has experienced prison riots and kidnappings, and the president declared a nationwide state of emergency. source https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/09/world/americas/ecuador-gang-prison-emergency.html

[williamchasterson]

Ecuador prisoners take guards hostage after drug lord's escape

Rioting erupted at six jails after the leader of Los Choneros prison gang escaped from his cell. from BBC News – World https://ift.tt/7lKTvtF via IFTTT

[warningsine]

After the electoral authority declared him the victor and socialist rival Luisa Gonzalez conceded defeat, Noboa vowed that "tomorrow we begin work to rebuild a country that has been severely hit by violence, corruption and hatred."

Long a peaceful haven between major cocaine exporters Colombia and Peru, Ecuador has seen violence explode in recent years as enemy gangs with links to Mexican and Colombian cartels vie for control.

The fighting has seen at least 460 inmates massacred in prisons since February 2021 -- many beheaded or burned alive in mass riots.

The bloodbath has spilled into the streets, with gangs dangling headless corpses from city bridges and detonating car bombs outside police stations in a show of force.

In August, the violence claimed the life of anti-graft and anti-cartel presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio, mowed down in a barrage of submachine-gun fire after a campaign speech.

He had been polling in second place.

A state of emergency was declared after former journalist Villavicencio's assassination, and Noboa and Gonzalez both campaigned, and voted, in bullet-proof vests and with heavy security details.

On Sunday, Noboa told supporters in his home town of Olon in the southwest his goal was "to restore peace... to bring back education to the youth" and create jobs.

'Destroyed' country

Ecuadorans voted for 10 hours Sunday with no reports of violence, watched over by some 100,000 police and soldiers.

"May we elect the best president because (he or she) will govern a country that is destroyed... to address all these problems such as insecurity," Indigenous voter Ramiro Duchitanga told AFP in Cuenca in Ecuador's south.

"It is a critical election," added Freddy Escobar, a popular 49-year-old singer in Quito, citing crime as his main worry. "I am voting in fear, not knowing what will happen."

The main concerns of Ecuadorans, according to opinion polls, are crime and violence in a country where the murder rate quadrupled in the four years to 2022.

Noboa, who obtained some 52 percent of the vote according to a near-complete count, was elected to only 16 months in office to complete the term of incumbent Guillermo Lasso, who called a snap vote to avoid possible impeachment for alleged embezzlement.

Under the law, Noboa can run again for the 2025-29 presidential term, and the one after that.

Both runoff candidates were relative unknowns in politics.

Noboa is the son of one of Ecuador's richest men, who himself has five failed presidential bids to his name.

The president-elect, whose only political experience is two years as a lawmaker, calls himself "center-left" but embraces neoliberal economic thinking.

He ran on the ticket of the brand-new National Democratic Action alliance, which incorporates parties from the center and left of the political spectrum.

Ecuador has a poverty rate of 27 percent, with a quarter of the population unemployed or holding down an informal job.

Opinion polls list unemployment as voters' second concern.

Noboa reiterated Sunday that he intends to "give progress to a country... that has all the elements to be a global example."

Gonzalez was the handpicked candidate of socialist ex-president Rafael Correa, who governed from 2007 to 2017 and lives in exile in Belgium to avoid serving an eight-year prison term for graft -- another major concern in the country.

From eight candidates, Gonzalez took the most votes in the first round in August with 34 percent, followed by Noboa with 23 percent.

On Sunday, she offered her "profound congratulations" to Noboa, "because this is democracy."

Addressing supporters in Quito, Gonzales also said she would not be claiming fraud.

With 13 lawmakers in his corner out of 137 in parliament, Noboa will not have an absolute majority backing his legislative projects, and with only 16 months in office, will face an uphill battle to push through any reforms, analysts say.

Voting is compulsory for 13.4 million eligible voters in the country of about 18 million, and the election authority said turnout was above 82 percent.

After images on social media showed a person appearing to fill out multiple ballots in favor of Noboa, the head of the National Electoral Commission, Diana Atamaint, promised an "immediate" investigation.

[qudachuk]

Officials say the prison riots are a response by criminal gangs at attempts to curb their power.

[swldx]

BBC 0427 1 Sep 2023

12095Khz 0358 1 SEP 2023 - BBC (UNITED KINGDOM) in ENGLISH from TALATA VOLONONDRY. SINPO = 55545. English, dead carrier s/on @0357z then ID@0359z pips and newsday preview. @0401z World News anchored by David Harper. A leader of the far-right Proud Boys has been sentenced to 17 years in prison, one of the longest sentences yet handed out over the US Capitol riot. Another Proud Boys member, Zachary Rehl, was sentenced on Thursday to 15 years, also on a charge of seditious conspiracy. A deadly fire in Johannesburg's inner city was "a wake-up call" for South Africa, says President Cyril Ramaphosa. Seventy-four people were killed, including 12 children, after a blaze in a five-storey building, which was being occupied by homeless people. Earlier, the city of Johannesburg confirmed it owned the building, but said cartels had taken it over. Officials say the cause of the deadly fire is unclear. Friends of a doctor who died in Nigeria because the lift in her hospital accommodation fell nine floors with her inside are not surprised by a new study that reveals the country spends twice as much money on debt repayments as on health and education combined. The major new report from the One Campaign, an anti-poverty group, focuses on the staggering amount of private loans that African countries have to service, often to the detriment of development. The One Campaign report estimates the poorest nations are paying 500% more for debt than they need to. Pope Francis arrived in Mongolia on Friday to greet its tiny Catholic contingent, having earlier sent a blessing of "unity and peace" from his plane to China, with which the Vatican has had difficult relations. Hong Kong braced for the arrival of Super Typhoon Saola on Friday as authorities raised the strong wind signal to No.8, bringing the city to a standstill with most businesses, schools and the stock exchange shut. Ecuador has been shaken by a series of car bombings and the hostage-taking of more than 50 law enforcement officers inside various prisons, just weeks after the country was shaken by the assassination of a presidential candidate. New rules banning single-use plastics, including microbeads and polystyrene packing peanuts, will come into effect in parts of Australia on Friday. Queensland, Western Australia and South Australia will each apply bans, but what they cover will vary. Paris will become the first European capital to ban rented electric scooters on Friday, as the city hall vowed to “calm down” the streets. @0406z "Newsday" begins. 250ft unterminated BoG antenna pointed E/W, Etón e1XM. 250kW, beamAz 315°, bearing 63°. Received at Plymouth, United States, 15359KM from transmitter at Talata Volonondry. Local time: 2258.

[thenewsart]

Ecuador Plunges Into Crisis Amid Prison Riots, Kidnappings

Gunmen wearing masks stormed a television station in Ecuador’s largest city on Tuesday, taking anchors and staff hostage and exchanging gunfire with the police as cameras rolled before the intruders were subdued and arrested. The televised violence, captured live, erupted in the city of Guayaquil as the South American country has descended into chaos this week, with a powerful gang leader…