Ecuador reimposes the state of emergency in seven of the country’s 24 provinces

Ecuador reimposed a state of emergency in seven of its 24 provinces, given the increase in violence in recent weeks, and the exceptional regime was already in force in January.

The Ecuadorian Presidency declared a state of emergency on Wednesday, allowing the army to be deployed on the streets for 60 days in the coastal provinces of Guayas, El Oro, Santa Elena, Manabí and Los Ríos, and in the Amazonian provinces of Sucumbíos and Orellana. , as well as in the Camilo Ponce Enríquez region, in the Andean province of Azuay.

According to the decree, there has been “an increase in systematic violence perpetrated by organized violent groups, terrorist organizations and non-state belligerents” in these areas.

In January, the escape of the leader of an organized crime group from a maximum security prison triggered violent uprisings by gangs linked to drug trafficking, which led to prison riots, attacks on the press, bomb attacks and around twenty deaths.

Ecuador opens investigation into alleged prison escape of “Fito”, leader of the Los Choneros gang

The president of Ecuador, Daniel Noboa, then established a state of emergency, in force for the 90 days allowed by law, and declared the country in “internal armed conflict.”

The army was ordered to neutralize about 20 criminal groups. linked to the Albanian mafia and the Mexican and Colombian cartels, described as terrorists and belligerents.

“On January 9, when we declared war on terrorist groups, we were in general chaos and, in five months, we managed to return peace to the Ecuadorian people,” Noboa said Wednesday.

The state of emergency for the seven provinces is part of a “second phase of the war” against drugs and organized crime, added the head of state, in a video released by the Presidency.

The Ecuadorian president affirmed that the war “has become sectorized” and that “criminal gangs, faced with the military offensive, took refuge and entrenched themselves in seven provinces” where the capabilities of the public force “were surpassed.”

In these regions, dozens of people have died in various incidents in recent weeks.

The provinces in a state of emergency are the ones that “most need the freedom of action of the armed forces and the national police,” which is why the rights to the inviolability of the home and correspondence have been suspended, Noboa stated.

“Despite the significant risks we face, we are here to guarantee what we have gained and react with determination and strength,” he emphasized.

Hours earlier, the Human Rights Watch organization reported that Ecuador’s security forces committed “serious violations” of human rights in the fight against armed gangs in the country.

In a letter addressed to Noboa, the organization stated that the violations include at least one possible “extrajudicial execution” and “multiple cases of arbitrary detention and mistreatment by state forces and agencies.”