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As criminal gangs and state security forces wage fierce battles in Ecuador, a prosecutor responsible for investigating organized crime has been murdered. César Suárez was shot dead in his car by hitmen in the port city of Guayaquil, the Public Prosecution Service announced on Wednesday (local time). “The criminals and terrorists will not stop us,” said Attorney General Diana Salazar. “This crime will not go unpunished.”

Suárez investigated, among other things, the alleged gang members who stormed a studio of the state television channel TC Televisión last week and took numerous hostages. President Daniel Noboa then issued a decree declaring that Ecuador was in an internal armed conflict and sent the armed forces to fight the gangs. He declared 22 criminal groups terrorist organizations and non-state belligerents that must be eliminated.

The security situation in Ecuador had recently deteriorated dramatically. The murder rate of 46.5 murders per 100,000 inhabitants last year was the highest in the history of the once peaceful Andean country and one of the highest in Latin America. Multiple gangs linked to powerful Mexican cartels are fighting for control of drug trafficking routes. Ecuador is a major transit country for cocaine from Colombia, Peru and Bolivia that is smuggled to the United States and Europe. (sda/dpa)