International roundup

By Agencies
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Authorities in central Mexico said Tuesday they found the bodies of nine men in vehicles near a fuel pipeline.

The circumstances around the deaths remained under investigation, but there were indications that fuel theft may have been involved. Mexico faces a problem with gangs that steal gasoline, diesel and natural gas from government pipelines.

Ángel Rangel Nieves, police chief of San Juan del Rio city in the central state of Queretaro, said the bodies were found in two vehicles near the pipeline north of Mexico City. The vehicles had license plates from the neighboring state of Hidalgo, considered one of the centers of fuel theft.

Since taking office in December 2018, President Andrés López Obrador has made fighting fuel theft a central goal of his administration. But despite thousands of troops being deployed to guard pipelines, thousands of illegal taps are still found every year.

In 2023, about 5,600 illegal taps were found nationwide. That was down from over 7,000 in 2022 but almost the same level as when López Obrador took office.

The government has cracked down on open sales of stolen fuel and managed to reduce the volume for a couple of years.

Stolen fuels are often sold by the side of the road and sometimes through licensed gas stations.

Losses from stolen fuel at the state-owned oil company, Petroleos Mexicanos, dropped to as little as $275 million per year in 2019 and 2020.

But since then losses have ballooned, rising to over $1.1 billion in 2022.

The pipeline taps cause violence between gangs and pose a risk to residents. To gain support among local people, thieves sometimes leave taps open.

On Jan. 18, 2019, an explosion at an illegally tapped pipeline in Hidalgo state killed at least 134 people.

The explosion occurred in the town of Tlahuelilpan as residents collected gasoline leaking from the tap.

ECUADOR

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 South American country had entered an “internal armed conflict.”

The men armed with pistols and what looked like sticks of dynamite entered the set of the TC Television network in the port city of Guayaquil and shouted that they had bombs.

Noises similar to gunshots could be heard in the background. It was not immediately clear if any station personnel were injured.

Ecuador has been rocked by a series of attacks, including the abductions of several police officers, in the wake of a powerful gang leader’s apparent escape from prison.

President Daniel Noboa said Monday that he would declare a national state of emergency, a measure that lets authorities suspend people’s rights and mobilize the military in places like prisons

Shortly after the gunmen stormed the TV station, Noboa issued another decree designating 20 drug trafficking gangs operating in the country as terrorist groups and authorizing Ecuador’s military to “neutralize” these groups within the bounds of international humanitarian law.

The government has not said how many attacks have taken place since they announced that Los Choneros gang leader Adolfo Macías, alias “Fito,” was discovered missing from his cell in a low security prison on Sunday.

He was scheduled to be transferred to a maximum security facility that day.

Authorities also have not said who is thought to be behind the attacks, which included an explosion near the house of the president of the National Justice Court and the Monday night kidnappings of four police officers, or whether they think the actions were coordinated.

Police said one office was abducted in the capital, Quito, and three in Quevedo city.

The government has previously blamed members of the main drug gangs for similar strikes. In recent years, Ecuador has been engulfed by a surge of violence tied to drug trafficking, including homicides and kidnappings.

Macías’ whereabouts are unknown. Prosecutors opened an investigation and charged two guards in connection with his alleged escape, but neither the police, the corrections system, nor the federal government confirmed whether the prisoner fled the facility or might be hiding in it.

In February 2013, he escaped from a maximum security facility but was recaptured weeks later.

On Monday, Noboa decreed a national state of emergency for 60 days, allowing the authorities to suspend rights and mobilize the military in places like prisons. The government also imposed a curfew from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m.

Noboa said in a message on Instagram that he wouldn’t stop until he “brings back peace to all Ecuadorians,” and that his government had decided to confront crime. The wave of attacks began a few hours after Noboa’s announcement.

States of emergency were widely used by Noboa’s predecessor, Guillermo Lasso, as a way to confront the wave of violence that has affected the country.