[imagesource:wikicommons]

Ecuador seems to be a nice place to visit this time of year, with its Amazon jungle, beautiful beaches, wildlife-rich Galápagos Islands, and guys loitering in the streets with explosives strapped to their bodies.

That may be a bit harsh as it seems most countries are having to deal with their version of ‘stranger danger’ these days.

The Ecuadorian man however was filmed as he nervously paced a street corner in the port city of Guayaquil. Located on the Guayas River roughly 260 miles from the capital of Quito, the city has become one of the epicentres of rising violence and is connected to the drug trade in Ecuador.

It appears that he was forcibly strapped with dynamite by unknown assailants on Thursday, leading to a tense hours-long standoff as the police attempted to remove the homemade explosives and deactivate them.

The man’s name has not been released but he is known to be a security guard at a local jewellery store. According to locals, he was strapped with the explosives as revenge for his, or his bosses’ failure to pay local gangs for ‘protection’.

Accounts differ, but police have confirmed that he did not put explosives on himself, so a local gang seems to be the main suspect.

“The guy didn’t know whether to move or not, he was desperate, he was trembling.”

Authorities quickly quarantined the area and sent their national police bomb squad who managed to remove the explosives after fidgeting with it for three hours. Those must have been three very long hours for the poor security guard.

#ATENCIÓN
Sujeto aparentemente fue atado a una bomba en los exteriores de un local de venta de oro ubicado en Sauces 9, norte de Guayaquil. pic.twitter.com/SaQtM6lahd

— Minuto & Medio (@MinMedio) March 30, 2023

Police haven’t been able to identify the gang who did this to the poor guy, but another video circulated on social media shows the guard running away from a group that eventually catches up and kidnaps him.

#ATENCIÓN | Una cámara de seguridad captó el violento secuestro del guardia de una joyería que después apareció con un chaleco de explosivos en #Guayaquil ➤ https://t.co/LYjxWAy4ey#TVCEcuador pic.twitter.com/AJU8j2x48H

— TVC Ecuador (@TVCEcuador) March 30, 2023

The man reportedly was held for several hours overnight, then strapped with the explosives, and dropped off in front of the store.

According to authorities, more than 40 reported attacks involving explosives have been reported in Guayaquil in 2023. This is however the first time someone was strapped with a bomb this year.

And if you’re wondering what the politicians are doing about this violence, Ecuador’s president Guillermo Lasso will be impeached for alleged embezzlement in the coming months. ‘Nuff said.

Social media is giving us all a front-row seat to the horrors of the world and the evil that men do.

[source:vice]