Chaullabamba Cuenca Ecuador: Expat Couple Victims of Home Invasion

Source: Facebook Group for Expats in Cuenca: Names of victims have been redacted from their statement.

Challuabamba, A small community about 15 minutes via taxi from the heart of El Centro in Cuenca, Ecuador.

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FROM ONE OF THE VICTIMS

I wish to share our experience with the intent of possibly offering helpful suggestions from our frightful experience. Last Sat. night at 10:00pm, we were the victims of a home invasion in Challuabamba. We had retired to our bedroom and the door shut. We heard a noise and at first thought it was a firework of some sort. Then another noise so different that I asked my husband to look out front. When he opened our bedroom door, four young men were charging into our home. They had broken the padlock on our front gate and broke off one of the security horns. Then rammed in the front door. My husband barely had time to close and lock our bedroom door. I dialed 911 to no avail. Having read a recent article about using wasp spray (long spray reach and may blind in minutes if not treated) I searched for some just a week prior. Could not find wasp spray but purchased some fly spray and kept it by my bed. As it was becoming obvious the lock and my husband could not hold back the assailants, I grabbed the spray and stood behind my husband. As all four busted thru our door I sprayed all of them and yelled to get to a hospital — a simple hospital with a little accent was understood. I kept spraying and driving them back. Boy– two guys got real upset. One ran into my kitchen and took the garbage can came back and threw the garbage and container at us. Broken glass gave me two cuts. BUT– another man pulled a gun. A plastic patio chair just happened to be in reach and my husband took it and hit the gunman hard enough the chair broke. Maybe we were not cautious enough but our actions were purely fight or flight, adrenaline fueled responses with no time to think. The men started to charge us again. We had a door to the back yard so I ran outside and started screaming LADRON LADRON POLICIA POLICIA– our neighbors above us heard and came to the rescue–lights on and to the top if their home they went and started yelling and watching. The invaders took off. I had learned the word LADRON on Facebook. They all came to help with their dogs and bats. Security company Omnitron brought the police. In fact, a notice had been sent to the office when the intruders broke off the horn. I had set another very audible alarm when I could get to our control and hit the police button. There was another hidden horn. When police arrived they set all our cellphones into another system better than the 911, whereas we just hit one number and the local police are notified with an exact location. Wanted to advise all that the 911 in Ecuador is not the same as the US. Go to your local police so they can program your phone to the faster program.

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911 just gives you an operator and you have to give your address and directions–too slow in an emergency. Omnitron was wonderful as the security guard spent the night in front of our home and has ordered repairs and improvements for the system. Police patrolled the area looking for the men and patrolled all night also. The only thing the men took was my can of spray. I was hoping the police contacted hospitals to see if men smelling like Raid and with bad eyes paid a visit. Even though the fly spray worked to a degree I am going for the wasp formula now. Maybe find some mace and also have a spray bottle of bleach to add to the collection. We are so lucky to not only survive but prevail in this ordeal and hope sharing this experience may be helpful to others.