At least five people died on Sunday (14) and 16 were injured after an explosion in Cristo del Consuelo, in Guayaquil, the National Service for Risk and Emergency Management of Ecuador said.
The explosion, which occurred in the early hours of the morning, destroyed 8 houses and 2 cars, according to information from the authorities published on Twitter.
Guayaquil firefighters responded to the emergency, and it is still not formally known what elements were used in the attack.
However, just hours after the incident, Interior Minister Patricio Carrillo said on his Twitter account that it could have been an explosives attack.
“Organized crime mercenaries who drugged the economy a long time ago are now attacking with explosives,” he said.
Mercenaries of organized crime, who have drugged the economy for a long time, now attack with explosives. It’s not her problem @PoliciaEcuador. It is a declaration of war on the State. If we unite to face it, the price will be the highest for society. https://t.co/CUbVqrU2QB
— Patricio Carrillo (@CarrilloRosero) August 14, 2022
In a press conference on Sunday afternoon, the governor of the province of Guayas, Lorenzo Calvas, rejected the “acts of terrorism”. A reward of US$ 10,000 was also presented, with which the Ministry of the Interior seeks concrete information about what happened.
So far, the identity of the dead and injured is unknown.
Guillermo Lasso, President of Ecuador, sent condolences to the victims’ families and reported the “immediate activation of the security cabinet”.
State of emergency in Guayaquil
“I have declared a state of emergency for the city of Guayaquil due to the criminal events that have taken place in recent hours. The entire public force will be available to restore control of the city. We will not allow organized crime to try to run the country,” President Lasso said on his Twitter account.
The country’s Security Secretary, Diego Ordoñez, said on Sunday, at a press conference on the state of emergency, that “a task force has been constituted between the armed forces and the national police to restore order in the sector”.
*Valentina González contributed to this story
Source: CNN Brasil
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