Ecuador Investigating Letter Bomb Attacks Targeting Journalists

At least five journalists received letters containing explosives Monday in Ecuador. No one was seriously injured. Interior Minister Juan Zapata said that the government had a suspect but would not provide a name, citing the ongoing investigation. It was sent by the same person from a serving in Traga in the city of Quintaloma. Three were sent to Guajiquil and two to Quito. Zapata told reporters that each of the five packages contained a computer USB flash drive loaded with explosives and a trigger. Media associations and journalist guilds strongly condemned the attacks the bombs were sent to media newsrooms.

This is not going to stop us. It is not going to silence us. On the contrary, it shows that we are on the right path, a coherent path, giving our audience truthful, accurate, timely, contrasted and certified information. The threats, which first were made through social media, were directed at television stations such as Ecoavisa, Teleamazonas, Antece, Televisión, journalist Miguel Ribadeneira with Radio Democracia in Quito, also received an envelope in his place of work with a flash drive inside. After the explosion occurred with Lenin Artieda at Ecoavisa, I realized that I had a similar envelope and a similar flash drive. I immediately handed it over to the police on Monday, who examined it and determined that it had an explosive inside the flash drive. In response to the attacks targeting Ecuadorian media, government officials said that they will activate a protection mechanism to guarantee the safety of the reporters.

We are going to initiate the corresponding protocols and we are going to generate investigative aspects. Some journalists say that despite the government's pledge of protection, it is partly responsible for the increase of violence in the country and against media. Sadly, Ecuador is experiencing any moment of violence. Much of it political, which added to the action of organized crime that has been linked to what is known as narco-politics. The website of the international nonprofit organization, Reporters Without Borders, says that journalists in Ecuador are working in a climate of growing danger, with the press being under constant attack, largely by government agents. For Néstor Aguilera, Inquito, Ecuador, Cristina Caicedo-Smith, Vioi News.

Ecuador