International
Ecuador drug violence: six police wounded in prison riot
| By AFP |
Six police were wounded Thursday in the latest prison riot to hit Ecuador, officials said, as the country is gripped by violence blamed on organized crime groups waging a deadly drug war.
The six were hurt while trying to put down an uprising at the infamous Guayas 1 prison in southwestern port city Guayaquil, police said on Twitter.
A source at the SNAI prison authority who asked not to be named told AFP that the police officers were confronted by inmates with guns and explosives.
Ecuador — once a relatively peaceful neighbor of major cocaine producers Colombia and Peru — has seen a wave of violent crime that authorities blame on turf battles between gangs with ties to Mexican cartels.
Civilians have increasingly been caught up in the bloodshed that has claimed more than 60 police lives since last year.
Hundreds of inmates have died in Ecuador’s overcrowded prisons since February last year — many beheaded or burned as the gang war is waged also behind bars — especially at Guayas 1.
Widespread corruption among guards allows inmates to lay their hands on guns and explosives, among other contraband.
Following attacks Tuesday in which five police officers and a civilian were killed, President Guillermo Lasso declared a state of emergency and nightly curfews in the western provinces of Guayas, of which Guayaquil is the capital, and Esmeraldas.
Groups armed with weapons including car bombs hit more than 18 targets in the two provinces, including police and gas installations, a clinic — where a civilian was critically wounded — and a bus terminal.
Prisoners at a facility in Esmeraldas also took hostage eight guards on Tuesday to protest the inmate transfer, but later freed them. In the same city on Monday, two headless bodies were found hanging from a pedestrian bridge.
Tuesday’s attacks were said to be in response to a mass transfer of inmates from the Guayas 1 prison, which is largely in the control of gangs.
Clashes at the prison on Wednesday left two inmates dead and six wounded.
Ecuador has gone from being a drug transit route in recent years to an important distribution center in its own right.
The United States and Europe are the main destinations of drugs from Latin America.
The murder rate in Ecuador nearly doubled in 2021 to 14 per 100,000 inhabitants, and reached 18 per 100,000 between January and October this year, according to official data.
In 2021, law enforcement seized a record 210 tons of drugs, mostly cocaine. So far this year’s seizures total 160 tons.
International
Bolsonaro diagnosed with skin cancer amid coup conviction
Former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro has been diagnosed with skin cancer while serving a historic sentence for attempting a coup d’état. His medical team confirmed that the lesions have been removed and that, for now, he does not require further procedures, though he will need regular monitoring.
On Wednesday, September 17, Bolsonaro’s doctors confirmed the diagnosis. The announcement comes shortly after the former leader was convicted of orchestrating an attempted coup.
According to his physician, Claudio Birolini, Bolsonaro has “squamous cell carcinoma, which is neither the most benign nor the most aggressive form — it is intermediate.” Birolini warned, however, that this type of skin cancer “can carry more serious consequences.”
International
Milei praises Paraguay’s growth, calls Argentina’s last 20 years a ‘decline’
Argentine President Javier Milei praised Paraguay’s economic growth over the past two decades during a speech before the Paraguayan Congress on Wednesday (Sept. 17, 2025), crediting it to incentives that favored capitalism. At the same time, he contrasted that progress with what he described as Argentina’s deepening “decline” during the same period.
“If we compare the last 20 years of Paraguay with those of the Argentine Republic, we will find almost diametrically opposite results,” Milei told lawmakers during a special session of Parliament on the second and final day of his official visit to Asunción.
“While you have not stopped growing, we have deepened our decline. If we understand incentives as the engine of capitalism, Paraguay focused on preserving and strengthening them, while Argentina dedicated itself to chaining, directing, and suffocating them,” the right-wing leader stated.
International
Trump administration launches large-scale immigration operation in Chicago
The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump intensified a large-scale immigration operation in the Chicago area with the arrival of additional Border Patrol agents on Tuesday and the presence of Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem during a raid.
Noem posted a video on her X account showing the immigration operation, in which DHS reportedly removed “violent criminals” from the streets. The footage shows Noem observing the arrest of a man taken into custody at his home early Tuesday morning at an undisclosed location.
“I was in Chicago today to make it clear that we will not back down,” the secretary wrote. “Our work is just beginning,” she added.
The warning from Noem was echoed by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Chief Gregory Bovino, who posted a video on X Tuesday showing multiple Border Patrol vehicles arriving in the city with the caption: “Chicago, we are here!”
Bovino, who led the immigration crackdown in Los Angeles implemented since last June, said the team will remain in Chicago to continue the mission they started in California.
Operation “Midway Blitz” is currently focused on the Chicago metropolitan area and its suburbs. Activists and residents have reported sightings of masked agents and unmarked vehicles in predominantly Latino neighborhoods.
Bolsonaro diagnosed with skin cancer amid coup conviction
Milei praises Paraguay’s growth, calls Argentina’s last 20 years a ‘decline’
Trump administration launches large-scale immigration operation in Chicago
Tec de Monterrey honors one of its students for his contribution to nanotechnology in medicine
Defense Minister commends salvadoran soldier for Central American Cross Country victory
Extension of the state of emergency approved in southern Chile
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