Armed attack during live broadcast at Ecuadorian TV station. What’s behind the spiraling violence?

By GONZALO SOLANO
Associated Press

GUAYAQUIL, Ecuador (AP) — A group of armed, masked men in Ecuador launched an audacious attack on a television station during a live broadcast and so revealed the country’s spiraling violence in the wake of an apparent recent prison escape. The imprisoned leader of a drug gang mysteriously vanished from his cell in the coastal city of Guayaquil on Sunday, prompting the government to declare a state of emergency. On Tuesday, thousands of viewers tuned in to TC Television watched live as the men threatened presenters and studio hands with firearms and what appeared to be sticks of dynamite. Sounds resembling shots were audible, as well as pleas and moans of pain.