American Tourist Witnesses Civil Unrest in Ecuador

One of the more interesting stories of the week was the Alaskan Airlines plane that lost a door not long after takeoff.

That incident led to hundreds of flights being canceled while the fleet for Alaskan Airlines was checked for any possible defects.

One of the casualties of those canceled flights, Steven Donovan, was stuck in Ecuador, and had a rather interesting view from his hotel room.

Watching History

Donovan was put up in a hotel near the airport, and he had the pleasure of watching the streets erupt in turmoil right outside of his room.

As he looked out the window, he saw military personnel running down the highway in an attempt to put down a civil uprising.

On Tuesday, it was reported that local gangsters had seized control of a TV news studio as well as prison guards being held hostage and a local university coming under attack.

Donovan posted on his social media account, “I'm not sure if this has made international news yet but the current situation in Ecuador is very intense.

“The president has issued a state of emergency for the entire country and yesterday gangs took the news station hostage right down the street from our hotel in Guayaquil.

“I'm hoping things don't escalate and I can get out this evening on a flight. There's talks of an all-out civil war happening but for the moment I'm safe at a hotel and very close to the airport.”

This all started after a local gang leader, Adolfo 'Fito' Macías, 44, the leader of the Los Choneros gang, somehow escaped prison.

In addition to Ecuador declaring a national emergency, Peru, which shares a border with Ecuador, has done the same.

President Daniel Noboa took office in November on the platform of eradicating the violence in the country.

He has now put a curfew in place in an effort to get the situation under control.