Ecuador: State of Emergency in Provinces for Lack of Security

The Ecuadorian president, Guillermo Lasso, announced on Friday night that he is establishing a state of emergency in three coastal provinces. He will also deploy 9,000 members of the Police and Armed Forces to combat crime and insecurity.

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"I have declared a state of exception in the provinces of Guayas, Manabí and Esmeraldas (west), effective from midnight tonight; in particular, a curfew will be in effect from 23:00 to 5:00 (4:00 to 10:00 GMT) in the parishes of Esmeraldas, Eloy Alfaro, in the Durán canton, and Ximena and Pascuales, in the province of Guayas," Lasso said in a message to the nation.

The measure will be in force for 60 days. Lasso added that the streets would feel the weight of the Public Force, with 4,000 Police and 5,000 members of the Armed Forces, which will be deployed in the three provinces to impose peace and order.

"We are going to take the fight against criminals to the very territory where they and their dirty goods try to hide (...) a ruthless enemy wants to test our determination and will, but will only find the most resounding defeat," Lasso stressed, referring to the high levels of insecurity and crime that affect primarily the three provinces where the state of exception will be applied.

ATENCIÓN | The curfew will apply from 11:00 p.m. to 5:00 a.m., in the parishes of Esmeraldas; Eloy Alfaro, from the Durán canton; Ximena and Pascuales, from the Guayaquil canton.

Several criminal gangs operate there, among them Los Choneros and Tigerones, whose leaders the authorities blame for being the masterminds and executors of the prison massacres, which last year alone cost the lives of more than 300 prisoners, cruelly murdered in various prisons in the Andean country.

The police and military will conduct a coordinated operation with perimeter controls, special operations and proactive investigation.

Criminal gangs in Ecuador, allied with drug trafficking cartels, mainly Mexican, operate, sowing terror in the streets of almost the entire country and inside prisons. The wave of crime and violent deaths, according to the authorities, has already reached record levels.

In recent days there have been bomb threats in judicial complexes. A car bomb exploded outside a prison in the province of Guayas, which is adjacent to the maximum-security prison La Roca, where the leaders of the prison massacres are being held.