Paraguay's president said Thursday the country was vulnerable because it had no resources to meet security needs, while organized crime had "money, logistics and weapons."
President Mario Abdo Benítez made the comments after announcing on Twitter that the country's justice minister and national police chief left their positions following the escape of an alleged drug trafficker.
He said late Wednesday that minister Julio Javier Ríos submitted his resignation and police chief Walter Vásquez had been fired as a result of the incident.
Police guard three torched vehicles after jailed drug lord Jorge Teofilo Samudio Gonzalez escaped from custody, in Asuncion, Paraguay, Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2019. Samudio Gonzalez made good his escape when he was being returned to the Emboscada maximum security jail after appearing in court and the convoy moving him was ambushed. The attackers burned their own two vehicles and another one belonging to a passerby after the ambush. (AP PhotoJorge Saenz)
Jorge Samudio made a getaway Wednesday as officers were transporting him to a prison about 40 kilometers (25 miles) north of the capital of Asuncion.
The alleged capo, who is known by the alias Samura, was arrested in October 2018 at his ranch in the town of Capitan Bado near the border with the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso do Sul.
Police inspect the area near the bullet ridden vehicles after jailed drug lord Jorge Teofilo Samudio Gonzalez escaped from custody, in Asuncion, Paraguay, Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2019. Samudio Gonzalez made good his escape when he was being returned to the Emboscada maximum security jail after appearing in court and the convoy moving him was ambushed. (AP PhotoJorge Saenz)
Police inspect the area near the bullet ridden vehicles left after a shootout when jailed drug lord Jorge Teofilo Samudio Gonzalez escaped from custody, in Asuncion, Paraguay, Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2019. Samudio Gonzalez made good his escape when he was being returned to the Emboscada maximum security jail after appearing in court and the convoy moving him was ambushed. (AP PhotoJorge Saenz)