The president of Ecuador, Daniel Noboa, signed this Thursday the 30-day extension of the state of emergency decreed on January 8 due to the insecurity situation that the Latin American country is experiencing as a consequence of the activity of armed gangs, now declared as “terrorist groups”, and that allows the intervention of the Armed Forces in prisons, mired in a spiral of violence.
The relaxation of the curfew will continue to work in the same way, as published by the Ecuavisa television network. A total of 38 cantons will have a curfew between midnight and five in the morning, 23 will be subject to restrictions between two and five in the morning and 160 cantons will not have any type of mobility restriction.
This measure was accompanied by the declaration of an “internal armed conflict”, allowing the presence of the military on the streets of the country and their participation in operations against gang members. Last week, the Constitutional Court endorsed military participation in operations against “terrorism” even without the existence of the state of emergency.
Last Friday, the Constitutional Court issued a favorable opinion for the military to remain in the planning and execution of operations against terrorism, without it being necessary to declare a state of emergency.
Since Noboa decreed the state of emergency, security forces have carried out 153,650 operations to arrest members of more than 23 organizations, arresting more than 12,000 people and accusing another 280 of terrorism, while killing 14 Although Ecuador had been experiencing several months of great violence, the current situation erupted after the escape of Adolfo Macías, alias ‘Fito’, leader of Los Choneros, from the Guayaquil Regional Prison was discovered on January 7.
Ecuador’s prison system has been one of the recurring sources of violence in the escalation of insecurity that the South American country is experiencing, the result of an increase in the activity of armed groups and combats between the gangs themselves.
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