(NewsNation) — Ecuador has been shaken by widespread violence this year, terrifying its citizens and leading the government to take swift action.

It hasn’t always been this way. Before this, Axios writes, Ecuador had not seen the major crime other Latin American nations dealt with from insurgent groups and drug-trafficking cartels.

Benjamin Gedan, director of the Wilson Center’s Latin America program, told the publication because Ecuador has “little experience with this level of violence,” its security services and its prison systems “had been really unprepared for such a fight.”

This has all changed in recent years, however.

When did the violence start?

Disputes between gangs inside Ecuadorian prisons led to the death of Jorge Luis Zambrano, also known as “Rasquiña,” in December 2020. The leader of Los Choneros, a powerful gang, was shot in an attempt to usurp his power, according to the Associated Press. This then generated divisions among local groups subsidiary to the gang that were in territorial disputes over drug distribution. 

Violence surged even more with a February 2021 massacre inside Ecuador’s most violent prison, Litoral Penitentiary, that left 79 dead. Then, in September of that year, the country saw its worst prison massacre, with 116 inmates killed in a single prison. Several of them were beheaded. 

In total, the Associated Press writes, 18 clashes inside prisons have killed more than 450 people. 

Chaos inside the prisons then spread to the streets. 

Another wave of violence hit Ecuador in September 2023. Gangs blew up a bridge, attacked prisons and kidnapped guards and police officers.

Daniel Noboa, the son of a billionaire businessman, was sworn in as president of Ecuador that November. One of his promises is to combat violence with new security measures. 

However, in the new year, another leader of Los Choneros, José Adolfo Macías Villamar, also known as “Fito,” went missing from the prison where he was serving his sentence just before he was scheduled to be transferred to a maximum-security unit. 

Following this, about 150 prison guards and staff were taken hostage by inmates, prompting Noboa to declare a state of emergency on Jan. 8.

Two police officers were killed in the streets of Ecuador and seven others kidnapped on Jan. 9. Three of those captives have since been freed, Reuters reported. 

That same day, a group of armed, masked men launched an attack on the station TC Televisión during a live broadcast, threatening presenters and studio hands with firearms and explosives. The Associated Press wrote that sounds resembling shots were audible as well as pleas and moans of pain. No one was killed during the incident. Police were able to neutralize the scene and arrest 13 people.

Ecuador’s attorney general’s office said Tuesday those arrested will be charged with terrorism, which means they’re facing up to 13 years in prison. 

Who is Fito?

Macías was convicted in 2011 and had been serving a 34-year sentence in La Regional prison of the port of Guayaquil when he disappeared. 

He was born Sept. 1970 in Manta, a coastal city in the province of Manabi, where authorities say Los Choneros, the gang he would later lead, emerged. A recognizable figure in the country, the AP describes Macías as “often sporting a beard, wavy hair, protruding belly and heavy build.”

Robbery, murder, manslaughter, illicit association, organized crime, possession of weapons, attack on life and crime against property are only some of the 30 charges against him, according to Ecuador’s judiciary.

This isn’t the first time Macías made a prison break: He also escaped in 2013 but was recaptured. 

While in prison, Macías has enjoyed privileges, such as access to forbidden items including weapons, appliances, liquor, fighting cocks and jewelry, and his bathroom was decorated with ceramics, the AP said. Macías was able to graduate as a lawyer while locked up and would even throw parties.

From prison, the AP wrote, Macías sent recorded messages to authorities and “to the Ecuadorian people,” with his last video released in July 2023.

How is the Ecuadorian government dealing with this?

Noboa declared a state of emergency on Jan. 8 for 60 days following Macías fleeing from prison. After the TC Televisión attack, he issued a decree saying his country was in an “internal armed conflict” and designated 20 drug-trafficking gangs as terrorist groups. Under the decree, the military is authorized to  “neutralize” these groups within the bounds of international humanitarian law.

“We are in a state of war, and we cannot give in,” Noboa said during an interview with Radio Canela on Wednesday.

Around 330 people had been arrested as of Wednesday afternoon for alleged acts of terrorism. Security was heightened in Ecuador, with forces stationed in guarded hospitals, public transit and newsrooms. Government officials ordered schools to have classes remotely until Friday. 

Any judges, prosecutors or other officials who collaborate with the gangs would be considered part of a terrorist network, Noboa said.

“We are fighting against terrorist groups made up of more than 20,000 people,” Noboa said in the radio interview. “They wanted to be named as organized crime groups … but they are terrorists.”

What has the United States’ response been?

United States officials, such as White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan, have condemned what they call “recent criminal attacks by armed groups in Ecuador against private, public, and government institutions.”

“We are committed to supporting Ecuadorians’ security & prosperity & bolstering cooperation w/partners to ensure the perpetrators are brought to justice,” Sullivan said Tuesday on X, the social media site formerly known as Twitter.

National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said the United States is monitoring the situation and is willing “to take concrete steps to improve our cooperation” with Ecuador’s government to deal with the violence and its impact on the population,” according to Reuters. 

During a White House press briefing, Kirby said the Biden administration had not had specific conversations with members of Ecuador’s government but would be willing to discuss ways to assist it. 

Kirby said there is no plan for the U.S. military to send in any troops, and no determination has been made about U.S. diplomats in the country at this time.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.