The offices of the "El Universo" newspaper were attacked by unidentified individuals who shattered the glass in one of the building's front doors.
(Fundamedios/IFEX) – On 16 November 2010, the offices of the “El Universo” newspaper, located in northern Quito, were attacked by unidentified individuals who shattered one of the building’s glass front doors.
Fernando Ampuero, the newspaper’s manager and a witness to the incident, told Fundamedios that the incident took place at 6:25 p.m., when he and four people from the paper’s administrative section were in their offices on the ground floor and heard what sounded like an explosion.
Ampuero said he went to investigate what was going on and noticed that one of the front doors was cracked, “as if something had gone through it”.
Despite finding no evidence other than a small screw, the following day they watched footage from the building’s security camera and saw two unidentified individuals arrive on a motorbike, throw something at the building, pause suspiciously, then leave.
A formal complaint was immediately filed with the judicial police. Ampuero said they thought at first that the incident could have been an attempted robbery, but the police discarded that theory because of the time of day when it took place and because the actions of the individuals recorded by the security camera made it look like an attack.
