A deadly trade-off

Political upheaval and street protests, gun battles and floods.

José Luis Calderón has seen it all in 23 years as one of Guayaquil’s top television journalists. Never had the Ecuadorian reporter been the story himself.

That changed just after lunch last Tuesday when the 47-year-old reporter heard shouts and the sound of people running in the corridors of TC Televisión, the channel where he works. “At first… we thought it was a fight,” he remembered. But as the yelling intensified, it became clear it was not.

Calderón had been in the newsroom next to the channel’s studio when the pandemonium began. Sensing something was badly wrong, he bolted into the bathroom with two female workmates and called his brother-in-law. “I just told him: ‘I don’t know what’s happening … but we’re in an emergency situation. Please call 911. I’m trapped. I’m hiding … My colleagues are in pieces.’ ”

Next door, more than a dozen masked gang members carrying explosives and guns had stormed the channel’s studio as its cameras rolled, broadcasting the attack to the nation – and soon the world. Moments later they barged into the bathroom , ordering Calderón and his colleagues out.

“They were kids – kids with guns. Disorganised. Impetuous … They seemed proud of what they were doing – but I don’t think it was pride,” Calderón said. “It was as if they were playing a game – only with extremely dangerous and lethal weapons.”