The president of Ecuador, Daniel Noboa, announced this Monday that a “traffic light” curfew will be applied, that has been in force in the country since last January 8 due to the security crisis unleashed at the beginning of the year, attributed to an attack by criminal groups that it calls terrorists.
Noboa announced in an interview with Teleamazonas television that tonight he will announce the measure with which Cantons will have different curfew times and different regulations.
with the measurethe reactivation of the economy is supported because, otherwise, not only a “blow” will be dealt to tourism but also to small businessmen, to the entrepreneur, to the economy in general, he added.
“We also cannot allow these narcoterrorist groups to destroy our way of living and our daily work,” commented the president.
Noboa decreed a state of emergency, with a curfew from 11:00 p.m. to 5:00 a.m. at a time when a series of attacks were taking place. when law enforcement forces were trying to locate Adolfo Macías 'Fito', leader of the criminal gang 'Los Choneros', to transfer him to a maximum security prison.
The search began on Sunday the 7th, when they discovered that the prisoner, one of the most dangerous in the country, had escaped.
(Read also: Urgent: the drug trafficker 'el Gringo', top boss of the 'Oliver Sinisterra', fell in Ecuador)
According to the decree, the state of emergency will last sixty days, with the option of a thirty-day extension that the president is already contemplating.
“I think so, as of today, as I see things, we are going to have to extend those 30 more days. The work of the Armed Forces and the Police is working, and we are dealing strong blows to these narcoterrorist groups,” said Noboa. .
He stated that at this moment they cannot stop: “We can't rest and we can't believe that this has been solved in two weeks. We have to keep fighting”.
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According to official reports, security operations have detained 2,763 people during the first thirteen days of the Government's declaration of an “internal armed conflict” against organized crime, of which 158 were arrested for alleged terrorism.
Between January 9 and 21, the authorities claim to have killed five alleged members of these gangs now classified as terrorists, while two police officers were murdered and another eleven were freed from different kidnappings apparently carried out by these mafias.
During that period, 1,003 firearms, 1,222 bladed weapons, 126 gun feeders, more than 35,700 bullets and 4,802 explosives have been seized.
Ecuadorian law enforcement agencies have also seized more than 10 tons of drugs and more than $23,100 in cash. According to the Government, the daily average of violent deaths has dropped from 28 to 6 due to the actions taken around security.
In the work to improve security, Noboa believes that the entity in charge of prisons (SNAI) must be “completely” reformed and that there must be a “permanent presence of the military” in the penitentiary system.
The military has been in charge of the country's security since January 9, when the Government declared an internal armed conflict against crime and identified 22 criminal groups as terrorists.
(Also: This is how the violence in Ecuador reflects a deep-rooted crisis in Latin America)
Noboa talks about popular consultation in Ecuador
President Noboa also indicated this Monday that he hopes that The popular consultation that it raises on issues of security, justice and economy will be held on March 10.
On January 3rd, Noboa sent a first block of eleven questions from his popular consultation to the Constitutional Court for review, with which he tries to get the Armed Forces to intervene in the fight against crime in the country and support the Police in that fight.
After withdrawing a question related to the return of the casinos, which was in that first block, Noboa was confirmed in the other ten.
Then, on January 10, Noboa presented a second block of nine questions to the Constitutional Court to be included in its consultation. The second group of questions refer to the extradition of Ecuadorians, the declaration of zones of national interest to eradicate illegal mining and even a labor reform, which has already received criticism from unions, among other topics.
Ecuador is waiting for the Constitutional Court to validate the questions it sent for study so that the popular consultation process can advance. which Noboa announced in the electoral campaign and promised to carry out in the first hundred days of his Government.
“If they want to deny questions that are popular for the people, let them deny them, but I have the obligation to present them. For the rest, the Constitutional Court is also going to have to work together with the Executive and, as citizens, they must do what is best for Ecuador,” Noboa said in an interview with Teleamazonas television.
Noboa commented that he decided to remove from his proposal a question related to the return of the casinos “so that there is no excuse, from any political group, to say that that is the problem, it's that simple.”
EFE
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