Footballers from Ecuador are hidden under bed during family discovery

According to the police report, the burglars came around three in the morning. They entered the house of professional footballer Jackson Rodriguez in the city of Guayaquil in Ecuador and kidnapped the wife and the five-year-old child of the defender, who plays for the Club CS Emelec. The family slept when the armed men got access, according to media reports. When Rodriguez noticed what was going on, he hided under the bed.

The 26-year-old knew exactly that the intruders were looking for him. In Ecuador, soccer players and other athletes have recently become victims of criminal gangs who earn money with kidnapping. The professional Pedro Perlaza was only kidnapped in December and was released by the police a few days later after a change of shooting.

In the case of Rodriguez, the criminals immediately asked the woman about the footballer. When she said he was not at home, instead they took their violence and wife. The kidnappers then fled in a pick-up. Rodriguez saw her away and then alerted the police. A unit specializing in kidnapping and blackmail has now taken over the investigation.

The once emerging and largely peaceful country has been increasingly sinking into a spiral of violence and crimes for years. Drug gangs undermined state institutions in Ecuador and corruption was omnipresent, said political scientist Renato Rivera Rhon of the “Tagesschau”.

A year ago, violence in Ecuador was spectacular into the awareness of the global public. Criminals had stormed a TV studio and made live demands to President Daniel Noboa, while they wave around with dynamite sticks and machetes. The coup was a reaction to the imposition of the state of emergency by Noboa in early 2024, which in turn reacted to the outbreak of a drug boss. At that time, the country sank in chaos for days. Recently, Noboa had once again in some cases imposed on the state of emergency in order to master a further escalation.

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