The gang members in Ecuador taking over a TV station while launching other attacks is a case of "violent lobbying," a term coined by Benjamin Lessing
🔶️ It's an extreme example of gangsters in LatAm using this insurgent-like tactic but it's not the first.
⬛️ Here are other cases:
🔶️ Colombian capo Pablo Escobar unleashed massive violence against the government and civilians to get his way and exert pressure. His most infamous act was using a hitman to down Avianca Flight 203 in 1989. It killed all 107 occupants. As this included Americans, US courts acted.
🔶️ In 2006, Brazil's PCC gang - or First Commando of the Capital - rose up in prisons in São Paolo and carried out almost 300 attacks, burning banks,busses, and police stations and killing dozens of officers. The attack was likely in response to the prison transfer of its leaders.
🔶️ In 2015 in Jalisco, Mexico, gunmen from the Jalisco New Generation Cartel burned cars and trucks in what are called narco bloqueos and attacked police, soldiers. It was in response to an attempt to arrest boss El Mencho. They shot down an army helicopter, probably with a 50 cal.
🔶️ In 2019, gunmen for the Sinaloa Cartel rose up in Culiacán, Mexico, following the arrest of Ovidio, son of El Chapo. They took hostages, fought with soldiers and blockaded streets. The Mexican government finally let Ovidio go - although the Mexican army re-arrested him in 2023.
🔶️ It is "violent lobbying" because the gangsters are using bloodshed and terror to exert pressure. They want the government to back off or release a suspect or stop raiding their dope.
🔶️ It makes the government pay a cost to go after them - and governments will often back down.
🔶️ It's an extreme example of gangsters in LatAm using this insurgent-like tactic but it's not the first.
⬛️ Here are other cases:
🔶️ Colombian capo Pablo Escobar unleashed massive violence against the government and civilians to get his way and exert pressure. His most infamous act was using a hitman to down Avianca Flight 203 in 1989. It killed all 107 occupants. As this included Americans, US courts acted.
🔶️ In 2006, Brazil's PCC gang - or First Commando of the Capital - rose up in prisons in São Paolo and carried out almost 300 attacks, burning banks,busses, and police stations and killing dozens of officers. The attack was likely in response to the prison transfer of its leaders.
🔶️ In 2015 in Jalisco, Mexico, gunmen from the Jalisco New Generation Cartel burned cars and trucks in what are called narco bloqueos and attacked police, soldiers. It was in response to an attempt to arrest boss El Mencho. They shot down an army helicopter, probably with a 50 cal.
🔶️ In 2019, gunmen for the Sinaloa Cartel rose up in Culiacán, Mexico, following the arrest of Ovidio, son of El Chapo. They took hostages, fought with soldiers and blockaded streets. The Mexican government finally let Ovidio go - although the Mexican army re-arrested him in 2023.
🔶️ It is "violent lobbying" because the gangsters are using bloodshed and terror to exert pressure. They want the government to back off or release a suspect or stop raiding their dope.
🔶️ It makes the government pay a cost to go after them - and governments will often back down.
The gang members in Ecuador taking over a TV station while launching other attacks is a case of "violent lobbying," a term coined by Benjamin Lessing
🔶️ It's an extreme example of gangsters in LatAm using this insurgent-like tactic but it's not the first.
⬛️ Here are other cases:
🔶️ Colombian capo Pablo Escobar unleashed massive violence against the government and civilians to get his way and exert pressure. His most infamous act was using a hitman to down Avianca Flight 203 in 1989. It killed all 107 occupants. As this included Americans, US courts acted.
🔶️ In 2006, Brazil's PCC gang - or First Commando of the Capital - rose up in prisons in São Paolo and carried out almost 300 attacks, burning banks,busses, and police stations and killing dozens of officers. The attack was likely in response to the prison transfer of its leaders.
🔶️ In 2015 in Jalisco, Mexico, gunmen from the Jalisco New Generation Cartel burned cars and trucks in what are called narco bloqueos and attacked police, soldiers. It was in response to an attempt to arrest boss El Mencho. They shot down an army helicopter, probably with a 50 cal.
🔶️ In 2019, gunmen for the Sinaloa Cartel rose up in Culiacán, Mexico, following the arrest of Ovidio, son of El Chapo. They took hostages, fought with soldiers and blockaded streets. The Mexican government finally let Ovidio go - although the Mexican army re-arrested him in 2023.
🔶️ It is "violent lobbying" because the gangsters are using bloodshed and terror to exert pressure. They want the government to back off or release a suspect or stop raiding their dope.
🔶️ It makes the government pay a cost to go after them - and governments will often back down.
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