On March 1, dozens of Muslims who were praying in the holy month of Ramadan in Quito were surprised when several unidentified individuals attacked the Ecuadorian-Iranian Cultural Center in Quito. The attackers threw stones, sticks, and tear gas before attempting to enter the premises and cause damage.
Chronicle of a xenophobic attack
Before the attack, several videos showed a caravan of cars driving through several streets in the north-central part of the capital, apparently celebrating the recent attack by the United States and Israel against the Islamic Republic of Iran.
After this journey, a group of vehicles arrived at the Ecuadorian-Iranian Cultural Center at night. There, another video shows how, before the attack, one of the caravan members apparently shouted at those inside the center: “Murderers. Get out, terrorists. That Islamic son of a bitch from Iran is finished. You have to leave this country.”
A few minutes later, several windows were broken, and some of those inside the cultural center, including women and minors, claimed they were beaten by attackers. A video shows several people carrying US and Israeli flags illegally entering the cultural center, throwing stones and sticks at the windows, and attacking those inside.
Another video shows the attackers shouting at those inside the building from the entrance: “Get out of my country. This is my country. Get out of Ecuador.” Dax Toscano, a university professor who was at the scene, said the attackers threw alcohol around the premises and made death threats.
In addition to US and Israeli flags, the attackers carried Iranian flags bearing the lion and sun, an image representative of Iran prior to the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Once the occupants of the cultural center managed to close the entrance door, the attackers attempted to force their way in. The police arrived minutes after the attack ended and reported that an investigation is underway. Afterwards, ambulances attended to those affected.
Reactions and non-reactions
The board of directors of the Ecuadorian-Iranian Cultural Center condemned the attack, calling it “cowardly and violent.” The statement added: “During this act of terror, they vandalized and caused severe damage to our facilities, hurling insults and death threats that deeply terrified the families and children present.”
At this time, the Ecuadorian Foreign Ministry has not issued any statement on the attack in Quito. Noboa’s right-wing government has proclaimed itself one of the most important allies of Israel and the United States in the region, with whom it has signed several investment and military intelligence cooperation agreements.
Perhaps for this reason, in an official statement, Ecuador’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed its concern about the worsening war situation and its solidarity “with the peoples and governments of Middle Eastern countries for the attacks they have suffered on their territories perpetrated by Iran, which compromise regional stability and security”: However, the statement makes no mention of the deaths on Iranian territory caused by the US and Israeli offensive.
Thus, the attack on the Ecuadorian-Iranian Cultural Center in Quito not only demonstrates the true international scope of the current war in the Middle East, but also the advance and growth of far-right movements in Latin American countries that, brandishing xenophobic and anti-immigration slurs, are becoming increasingly emboldened to go out and throw stones and beat people up.
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