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Wife and young son of Afro-Elecadorian skilled football Jackson Rodríguez They were secure The authorities saved by the police on April 24 confirmed, after shocking kidnapping from their house, Guayaquil. The incident in which the 26-year-old Rodríguez hid under his bed, when armed men abducted his family, he emphasizes the escalating Ecuador of uncertain uncertainty.

Police commander Pablo Dávila informed on Friday that the 24-year-old wife of Rodríguez and a five-year-old son received medical care after their dismissal and weren’t semi-bad. Insolent kidnapping He occurred early On April 24, when 4 “with a hood and heavily armed people” entered the family’s residence in the Mucho Lete district in this unstable coastal city.

According to Dávila, the kidnappers demanded a ransom of USD 500,000 for a secure return of mother and child, which the family refused to fulfill. Rodríguez, a left defender for the Emelec first division club, fully collaborated with investigators.

After intensive police operations, the abducted couple was in the “El Fortín” sector, densely populated and notoriously dangerous area in the north -western Guayaquil. . has gained an area The gloomy publicity in March, when the brutal massacre consumed the lives of twenty-two people, which is a transparent illustration of violence harassing the city. Guayaquil, positioned about 270 kilometers (170 miles) southwest of the capital of Ecuador, Quito, became the focus of the spiral wave of crime of the nation. According to law enforcement officers, its strategic port is the major channel for illegal drug shipments intended for Europe, Central America and the United States.

The kidnapping appeared against the background of the emergency declared only ten days earlier by the Ecuador government during nine provinces, including Guayas, where Guayaquil is positioned. This emergency measure authorizes the distribution of security forces to combat the growing operations of organized crime groups, which the authorities attribute to a rise in violence.

Uncertainty and crime have forged an extended shadow over the Ecuador over the past 4 years, with a transparent escalation in the early months of 2025. Government statistics reveal the stunning 2345 violent deaths reported throughout January to March, with a disproportionate 742 of those appearing in Guayaquil itself. The port city is now gloomy as one in all the most dangerous urban centers in the country.

Tragically Rodríguez and his family are usually not the first athletes who were the goal of this wave of violence. In December 2024, Pedro Perza, footballer for the de quito league, He was kidnapped Esmeraldas, city 182 kilometers northwest of Quito. He was saved alive a number of days later, emphasizing the susceptibility with which even outstanding characters face.

In his police testimonies, the head of Édison Rodriguez (with no relationship with the victim) stated that 26-year-old Fullback told him, hiding under the bed after hearing a brutal compulsory entrance to his house around 3 am the perpetrator, after determining the absence of Rodríguez, he abducted his wife and child. The player was reportedly witnessing the kidnappers escaping in a gray double cabin pickup.

The last list data from 2022 from the National Institute of Statistics and Censuses (INEC) has revealed an inclination for the Afro-Elecadorian community. While the census indicated a rise in the population of Mestizo, Native and Montubio, the variety of self-identification people as Afro-Elecadorian has fallen significantly in comparison with the 2010 census. The universal list in 2022 recorded 814 495 Africanadorian, which is 4.8% of the total population, which is a transparent contrast of 1,041,559 people, i.e. 7.2%, who identified themselves as Afro-Elecadorian in the 2010 list.

Africaader organizations challenged these official data, estimating that the black population is closer to 10 percent. They cite problems with performing a universal list, especially in areas affected by violence, in which the survey work proved to be difficult, which results in infirmity. And vice versa, the Ecuadorian government assigns a reported reduction in the issue of self -identification and lack of organizations in black communities.

Historically Afro-Elecadorians who First of all, he lives In the northern Coastal Province of Esmeraldas, in addition to in Guayas and other south-center coastal regions, they encountered systemic marginalization despite their significant cultural contribution. While slave ships got here to Ecuador for the first time in 1526, and the enslaved Africans worked on gold plantations and mines, the abolition of slavery in 1851 didn’t erase the lasting consequences of this brutal socio-economic system.

Africaadorian awareness gained momentum at the end of the twentieth century, which led to the recognition of Afro-Elecadorian as a separate ethnic group in the 1998 structure. However, critics indicate periods of instability and misunderstandings regarding the management of the individual.

Despite some political reforms and declarations of October 2 as Afro-Elecadorian, socio-economic indicators reveal that Afro-Elecadorians Still behind Their white/mestizo counterparts, in the face of everlasting unevenness and racial discrimination, especially in urban areas. Africaader women, in particular, experience disproportionately high level of violence.

The Working Group of the United Nations for African Zdechów also expressed fears, stating in 2019 that the Afro-Dessers constitute a surprising 40 percent of the population living in poverty in Ecuador, despite the much lower overall percentage. The UN body also criticized the denial of their rights to the clean environment, access to justice, education and decent work, emphasizing environmental racism affecting the Afro-Descendant community.

The recent kidnapping of the Rodriguez family is a transparent reminder of the ubiquitous ecuador of uncertain uncertainty and special gaps in security, in which marginalized communities struggle, including Africanadorians as a part of this crisis. While the secure rescue of his wife and son offers a ray of hope, he emphasizes the urgent need for effective government actions to unravel the original causes of escalation and ensuring the safety and well -being of all its residents.