One of the most terrifying spates of violence in Ecuador’s modern history began on Jan. 7. In quick succession, two jailed gang leaders escaped, riots broke out in the country’s main prisons and bombs exploded in several cities. A national television network was stormed by masked gunmen during a live broadcast. A little over a week later, the prosecutor investigating that attack was shot and killed. More than 20 people have been killed in the turmoil.
Watching the chaos unfold on their phones and televisions, Ecuadoreans were gripped by an unfamiliar fear. The streets of Guayaquil, the largest city, and Quito, the capital, were nearly empty as citizens were advised to stay home. The new president, Daniel Noboa, declared a 60-day state of emergency, and then quickly declared the country to be in an “internal armed conflict”, a move that allowed the army to patrol the streets and take control of prisons.
But there was another disturbing dimension to the crisis. As all of these frightening and very real events occurred, an overwhelming flood of disinformation on social media further disoriented the nation. The wave of fake news, along with the explosion of gang violence and the government’s extensive security measures, have raised troubling questions about the future of a country that was, until a few years ago, widely considered peaceful.
This month’s violence has not come out of nowhere. Ecuador has been grappling with a surge in organized crime. Since 2021, deadly clashes between gangs in prison have become commonplace, as have accusations that government officials, military officers and politicians are involved in drug trafficking. My country now holds the unfortunate distinction of being the deadliest nation in the region, with an average of some 40 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants — a grim statistic that includes the presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio, who was assassinated shortly before elections last year.
This spasm of violence began on a Monday morning with news of the prison escape of Adolfo Macías, better known as Fito, the leader of one of the many powerful criminal gangs in Ecuador. That night, attacks by gangs were reported in several cities, along with the kidnappings of dozens of prison guards. By Tuesday morning, news had spread that Colón Pico, a leader of another gang, had also escaped from prison.
It was an alarming series of events, but the onslaught of fake news stories that followed depicted an exaggerated situation of almost total chaos, inflaming panic. Disinformation isn’t new to Ecuador; like every other country we have to sift through our fair share of false information online. But this was different, as the flood made it hard to tell the difference between legitimate reporting and pure rumor in a moment of crisis. Though it remains unclear whether who, if anyone in particular, was behind the fake reports, for a few hours, it felt impossible to distinguish between fact and fiction — or to objectively discern the gravity of the situation.
One social media user erroneously reported a shooting near the presidential palace. Another warned falsely of the takeover of a subway station in Quito, and yet another incorrectly suggested masked gunmen had invaded a university and hospital. By the end of that week, city officials said 53 violent gang-related incidents had been reported nationwide, but only 18 were found to be substantiated.
Amid the cascade of fact and fiction came the president’s emergency decrees. Though previous presidents have been lambasted for regularly declaring states of emergency, Mr. Noboa faced almost no resistance from his political opponents. One of his predecessors, Rafael Correa, initially offered his “total, unrestricted support”. The leader of the chief legislative opposition, María Paula Romo, noted she had some doubts about Mr. Noboa’s moves but stressed that we, as a nation, were obligated to support the president in this uncertain moment.
Overall, the reaction in both political circles and civil society to Mr. Noboa’s raft of security measures to contain the crisis — and expand his executive power — has been worryingly muted in a region where other countries are starting to give up personal freedoms in exchange for personal security.
Mr. Noboa was already moving in this direction before the widespread violence of Jan. 8. Four days earlier, he had announced plans to build two sprawling high-security prisons and introduce other security measures to rein in gangs, citing the success of El Salvador’s similar tough-on-crime approach. And while it’s true the Salvadoran president, Nayib Bukele, has a sky-high approval rating in large part because of those actions, there is a dark side to the strategy: According to several human rights organizations, Mr. Bukele’s government has committed a number of violations that threaten fundamental rights, such as wrongful use of the criminal justice system, prisoner abuse and restrictions on civic space.
When the violence in Ecuador erupted this month, I, too, was swept up in the panic. I was out in Quito when I saw online reports of shootings dangerously close to my house. I rushed to the area, but when I arrived, I found nothing was happening — just fear. Even though as a journalist, I am used to pausing to verify information, I took the reports I saw at face value, like so many others. Like so many others, I was afraid.
I still am. I’m worried about the misinformation that continues to infiltrate social media, and I’m worried about Mr. Noboa’s new approach to security. More than 3,000 people have been arrested since Jan. 9. The police have even released images of some detainees stripped down to their underwear, recalling images from Mr. Bukele’s infamous megaprisons. The government’s actions in the aftermath of that bloody week should concern everyone in a region that is facing threats to democracy, and where fake news can distract from the real stories that could shape the future of our nations.
Ecuador is confronting an existential threat posed by narco-gangs that will require a collective effort to overcome. But this unity can’t be the product of fear and misinformation. The circulation of disinformation that occurred that week, and that we are continuing to see today, should serve as a reminder to all Ecuadoreans and the world to remain cautious, so that no one — criminal or politician — is able to exploit our legitimate outrage in favor of chaos or the undermining of democracy.
Iván Ulchur-Rota is a journalist and comedian.