Several journalists were detained in Portoviejo

Journalists from Ecuavisa, GamaTV and Canal 30 of Manabi, were arrested last night in El Rodeo prison of Portoviejo on charges of threatening state security.

They had been told to go along with the police at 06:00 today, to carry out a surprise operation, but were stopped by order of the director of the detention center.

El Rodeo prison of Portoviejo

Other journalists like Rafaela Zambrano, empathized with her fellow companions and wrote on her Twitter account: “I regret the attitude of the warden of El Rodeo prison, he abuses his authority, he is a legal professional who does not know how to perform, arbitrary”. Another journalist, Mercedes Pita, wrote: “The prison director accused journalists of threatening state security, they entered in police vehicles.”

However, during the arraignment hearing, the journalists, who were detained in the Police Command, were released for lack of evidence against them.