Quito. A state of emergency has been declared again in Ecuador. President Daniel Noboa announced last Thursday that a total of six provinces and two cantons would be affected by the measure. The measure will initially apply for 60 days with the possibility of an extension for a further 30 days. However, it still needs to be approved by the Constitutional Court. In addition, there will be curfews between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. in 20 cantons of the affected provinces.
In the affected areas, fundamental rights such as the right to freedom of assembly, the right to inviolability of the home and the secrecy of correspondence are suspended. This affects any actions that are considered a threat to public safety. In addition, the army has been mobilized to enforce the measures in cooperation with the national police. It is the sixth time that President Noboa has declared a state of emergency in his ten months in office, most recently on September 30 (America 21 reported). The Constitutional Court overturned the measure twice and repealed it.
The government justifies the restrictions on freedom with the persistently high level of violence and crime in the country and is based on a report from the central command of the armed forces. Government Minister Arturo Félix Wong also stated that October “is historically the most violent month.” The decree also states that “hostilities, crimes and the intensity of the ongoing presence of organized armed groups” have increased in the affected areas.
Unlike the measures recently imposed, the capital Quito is also affected. The last time the state of emergency applied in the metropolitan region was from January to April of this year, when it was declared nationwide. The Constitutional Court later ruled that parts of the measure were unconstitutional.
In the justification for the decree there is only a reference to the murder of a government employee in Quito at the end of September. Beyond that, there is no further information about the situation in the capital. Rather, there is a general increase in crime and the continued presence of organized armed groups in all areas where the state of emergency has been declared. Of interest in this context is a report presented by Interior Minister Mónica Palencia on September 30th. Accordingly, the number of intentional homicides in the capital between January 1st and September 29th was 179 cases, a decrease of 15 percent compared to the previous year. There should be no curfew in Quito.
Wong also justifies the inclusion of the capital by saying that it is “trying to heat up the streets in preparation for the 2025 elections.” A statement that causes concern among extra-parliamentary movements that organize demonstrations, sit-ins or rallies. Washington Andrade, a lawyer for a movement calling for the nationalization of an oil company, said his group’s demands, for example, were not “inciting the streets.” Rather, it is about the exercise of citizens’ right to peaceful protest and resistance. Presidential and parliamentary elections will take place in Ecuador in May 2025. It is therefore entirely possible that the election campaign and the elections themselves will take place in a state of emergency.
