Two letter bombs were sent to TV stations in violence-plagued Ecuador on Tuesday, one of which exploded without any injuries, as other media also received suspect envelopes, officials and media reported.
A bomb sent to journalist Lenin Artieda exploded at his workplace in the port city of Guayaquil, the Ecuavisa private network said on its website.
Artieda received an envelope containing a pen drive that exploded when he inserted it into a computer.
He sustained light injuries to his hand and face, said Xavier Chango, a police official. The prosecutor's office said a letter bomb was also sent to another channel, TC Television, in Guayaquil in Ecuador's southwest.
The office said in a statement that bomb crews will carry out a controlled detonation.
Chango said that the USB drive sent to Artieda could have been loaded with RDX, a military-type explosive. He said police were also investigating envelopes sent to two other media outlets in Quito.
The government said in a statement it rejects any form of violence perpetrated against journalists and media outlets. It added that any attempt to intimidate journalism and freedom of expression is repugnant.
Ecuador's CDH human rights watchdog has condemned the attacks on media in the context of growing insecurity in Ecuador. Ecuador is located between Colombia and Peru, the world's two largest cocaine producers, and has become a hub for global drug trade in recent years.
Guayaquil is one of its most violent cities, with frequent clashes between criminal gangs disputing drug traffickers routes.
President Guillermo Lasso has declared war on gangs that control the drug trade from prisons engulfed by extreme violence and riots that have left more than 400 inmates dead since 2021.
The murder rate in Ecuador has gone from 14 per 100,000 inhabitants in 2021 to 25 per 100,000 in 2022.
A year ago, the RTS TV station was attacked by a gunman, and a bomb exploded at Teleamazonas in 2020.