As the stalemate between security forces and organised crime reached a fever pitch, officials in Ecuador on Thursday (Jan 11) said that the gangsters had seized at least 178 prison guards and personnel.

Ecuador violence: 178 prison guards, staff held hostage by gangs

A cluster of lost cities has been uncovered by archaeologists in the Amazon rainforest, which housed at least 10,000 farmers nearly 2,000 years ago. Archaeologist Stephen Rostain, more than two decades ago, had for the first time noticed a series of earthen mounds and buried roads.

Archaeologists uncover lost cities which existed 2,000 years ago in Ecuadorian Amazon

The wave of violence currently sweeping through Ecuador, attributed to the activities of powerful gangs, has thrown the country into a state of fear. This unprecedented surge in violence is tied to several incidents, including prison riots, kidnappings of police officers, and a brazen storming of a TV station. In an attempt to regain control and restore peace, the Ecuadorian President, Daniel Noboa, has ordered the military to confront these powerful criminal organizations, now branded as "terrorist" groups.

Ecuador violence prompts several prison raids across the region

Dozens of armed men stormed a TV broadcast in Ecuador just a day after President Daniel Noboa declared a 60-day National Emergency. The Ecuadorian President has ordered that all the criminal gangs involved in the attack be neutralized after the country exploded into what he called an internal armed conflict.

Ecuador: Violent chaos unfolds as soldiers patrol streets, nationwide curfew imposed

Ecuador violence: Ecuador enters third day of the cartel terror campaign

Ecuador has declared a state of emergency for 60 days after one of the country's most notorious narco bosses escaped from prison. On Wednesday (Jan 10), President Daniel Noboa said that his country was at war with drug gangs.

Explained | How Ecuador became a nation held hostage by its own criminal gangs

Ecuador Violence: Waves of arrests after army deployed to restore law and order

Ecuador on edge, enters third day of Cartel Terror Campaign | Waves of arrests start | WION

A journalist in Ecuador, who was held hostage on live TV by gangster gunmen during the takeover of a Guayaquil TV station, said on Wednesday (Jan 10) that the experience was "surreal.

'It was surreal': Ecuadorean journalist held hostage recounts armed takeover

The country has fallen to cocaine gangsters. On Tuesday, a masked gunman stormed a tv studio during a live broadcast, with long-range guns and grenades. Eventually, the police came to their rescue and arrested the attackers but the whole episode reveals the challenges the country's president faces.

Gravitas | Cocaine gangsters take over in Ecuador | Hostage crisis at Ecuadorian TV station

Masked men wielding guns and explosives forcefully entered the set of a live broadcast on the TC Television network in Guayaquil, Ecuador. The armed intruders interrupted a news programme while brandishing pistols and what appeared to be dynamite.

Ecuador: Gunshots on live TV broadcast send shockwaves amid state of emergency | Video

At least 10 people, including two officials, have been killed in violence linked to criminal gangs in Ecuador. This as shocking scenes unfolded in the nation after a state of emergency was declared. The commander general of the nation's police has declared the attack on a local tv station as an act of terrorism.

At least 10 dead in Ecuador gang violence: Police

Masked men broke onto the set of a public television channel in Ecuador waving guns and explosives during a live broadcast Tuesday, and the president issued a decree declaring that the violence-plagued country had entered an “internal armed conflict.”

Gunmen burst into Ecuador television studio live on air as attacks in country escalate

Armed men wearing balaclavas disrupt live TV broadcast in Ecuador

One of Ecuador's most feared gangsters is believed to have escaped from prison, a government spokesman said Monday as hundreds of police officers searched a maximum security jail.

Manhunt launched as Ecuador gang boss vanishes from jail

Ecuadorean President Daniel Noboa on Monday declared a state of emergency for 60 days a day after the country's most-wanted prisoner disappeared from the jail where he was being held. Watch to know more!

Ecuador: President Daniel Noboa declares state of emergency for sixty days amid prison chaos

Ecuador: State of emergency declared after most wanted criminal escapes prison

Ecuador on Monday (Jan 8) declared a state of emergency for 60 days after the country's most-wanted criminal disappeared from the jail where he was being held. Four police officers were kidnapped following the imposition of the measure.

Ecuador declares state of emergency after its most-wanted criminal disappears from jail

Police in South America's Ecuador rescued a prominent British businessman on Wednesday (Dec 20) morning, four days after he was reported missing. Colin Armstrong was also Britain's former honorary consul in the industrial city of Guayaquil, about 431 km south of capital Quito.

Ecuador: Colin Armstrong, British businessman rescued, nine arrested

Daniel Noboa, business heir, and now Ecuador's youngest-ever president-elect has vowed to "restore peace" to the drug gang war-ravaged South American country. "Tomorrow we start work for this new Ecuador, we start working to rebuild a country seriously battered by violence, by corruption and by hate," he told supporters during an address in the seaside town of Olon.

Explained | Who is Daniel Noboa? Ecuador's youngest president-elect is heir to banana empire

After defeating socialist Luisa Gonzalez, a supporter of exiled former president Rafael Correa, Daniel Noboa, heir to a banana business, will serve as Ecuador's next leader. As ballots from Sunday's election were being tabulated, the 35-year-old Noboa addressed his supporters and said, "From tomorrow, Daniel Noboa starts work as your new president."

Daniel Noboa Ecuador's 'Banana Heir' is the new President

Car horns in Quito blared in celebration Sunday as banana empire heir Daniel Noboa, 35, became Ecuador's youngest-ever president-elect, vowing to "restore peace" to a country ravaged by a bloody drug gang war.

President-elect Noboa vows to 'restore peace' to violence-plagued Ecuador

Ecuadoreans will choose their next president on Sunday, weighing pledges to improve the economy and control a spiralling security situation from a businessman who is heir to a banana fortune and a leftist who would be the country's first woman leader.

Ecuadoreans weigh economic, security pledges in presidential ballot

Six inmates were killed on Friday during a disturbance inside a Guayaquil prison, becoming the latest incident of unrest to strike Ecuador's penal system. In a statement, the SNAI national prison authority said that the disturbance occurred in one of the cellblocks of the Guayas 1 prison.

Ecuador: Six inmates linked to murder of presidential candidate killed in prison

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