The chaos that started in Ecuador after Jose Adolfo Macias Villamar, nicknamed “Fito,” the leader of the Los Choneros gang, escaped from La Regional prison in Guayaquil on January 8 continues. A total of 329 people, most of them from the Los Choneros, Los Lobos, and Los Tiguerones gangs, have been detained since the declaration of a state of emergency.

Some gang members who took to the streets on January 9 attempted to take journalists and employees hostage after raiding a television studio during a live broadcast. The police detained 13 people.