Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa announced the introduction of an “internal armed conflict” regime in the country amid a worsening security situation. The head of state announced this on Tuesday, January 9, on his page on the social network X.
“I signed a decree declaring an internal armed conflict and designated transnational organized crime groups as terrorist organizations and belligerent non-state actors[…]I ordered the Armed Forces to conduct military operations to neutralize these groups,” Noboa said in a statement.
In total, 22 gangs are included in the list of terrorist groups.
How the regime of “internal armed conflict” will differ from the state of emergency (state of emergency) introduced earlier on Monday in Ecuador, the president did not specify.
Earlier that day, armed men stormed the studio of TC Televisión, located in the city of Guayaquil, and took the presenters hostage. Ecuadorian police reported that special forces officers arrived at the TV channel's office.
Last August, the assassination of Ecuadorian presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio was reported. The politician was shot three times in the head at a rally in Quito. A state of emergency was declared in the country.
A few days later, the murder of the leader of the political movement “Civil Revolution” Pedro Briones was reported. Early presidential elections in Ecuador took place on August 20, as a result of which Bernardo Arevalo, a representative of the center-left Seed movement, won.
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