Since the escape in early January of public enemy number one, Adolfo Macías, alias Fito, leader of the powerful Choneros gang, the country has been
in a state of emergency
and President Noboa has declared a state of internal war.
Tens of thousands of soldiers and police are on the streets and in prisons to regain control of the country.
The seizure of power is forceful, sometimes to the detriment of human rights.
And
the president's popularity increases.
Access to prisons
is still prohibited to the press
, but numerous videos are circulating on social networks, as usual
, with a large amount of misinformation
.
Soldiers arrest a young man in Quito.
Photo: AP
One video, for example, shows detainees on the ground
being sprayed with tear gas and hot water
.
They appear to have been
edited.
Others, however, are real and we know the source, such as the one that shows
detainees in their underwear
, shirtless and with their hands on their heads, climbing stairs with unusually rude soldiers, who force them to shout
"Ecuador, Ecuador",
as if to demonstrate that the State has returned to power and that the gangs no longer rule.
President Noboa's popularity increases
It is very difficult to find people who do not approve of the hard way.
President Daniel Noboa's popularity rating is 80%,
because people appreciate the fact that, for example, the police and the military have removed
truckloads of firearms, knives, drugs, televisions, computers, from prisons.
mobile phones
, cable television antennas, industrial kitchens, video game consoles and even sets of keys...
Detained in their underwear in a prison in Ecuador.
Photo: AFP
Billy Navarrete, executive director of the Permanent Committee for the Defense of Human Rights, admits that
his message is increasingly difficult to convey.
"Since January 9, the escape of "Fito", the point of view that we have defended for 40 years is going through its most difficult moment. We are also victims of violence, but any message that defends human rights, in particular of the prisoners
, we get insults and threats
. Recently, a colleague received a death threat because his photo was published on social networks," he laments.
Is calm returning to the prisons?
It is above all the families of the prisoners who protest against this "iron fist" policy.
They feel that their loved ones are treated like animals.
We met some of them last Wednesday outside the Guayaquil prison.
They had had no contact with their loved ones for a week, as all their mobile phones had been confiscated and all visits suspended.
It should be noted that the Armed Forces have published an official video in which no one screams.
They want to show that the prisons are now well managed, that all privileges have been removed and that inmates who were previously extorted by gangs are more peaceful, which is probably true.