The president of Ecuador, Daniel Noboa, declared this Thursday a new state of exception for sixty days that includes the capital Quito and six of the country’s twenty-four provinces, as well as a municipality in a seventh province, to continue the “internal armed conflict” that was decreed at the beginning of the year against organized crime gangs.
According to the criteria of
This new exception covers the provinces of Guayas, where Guayaquil, the most populated city in Ecuador, is located; Los Ríos, El Oro, Manabí, Santa Elena and Orellana, as well as the canton (municipality) of Camilo Ponce Enríquez, a mining enclave in the province of Azuay where different criminal gangs have sought control for illegal mining activities.
These territories were already part of the previous state of exception decreed by Noboa that has been in force for the last three months, with the news that Quito is now added to it, due to “the increase in hostilities, the commission of crimes and the intensity of the prolonged presence of organized armed groups,” according to the presidential decree.
The objective of this measure is to counteract the activity of criminal gangs and “contribute to the actions of the Armed Forces to maintain the sovereignty and integrity of the State, and of the National Police in citizen security, internal protection and public order.”
In the areas covered by this state of exception, and during the sixty days it will be in effect in principle, the rights of inviolability of the home and correspondence, as well as the freedom of assembly, are suspended.
The suspension of the right to the inviolability of the home will consist of carrying out inspections, raids and the corresponding searches by the Armed Forces and the National Police, leading to the location and registration of the places where people belonging to the gangs hide. criminals.
This state of exception also entails a curfew from 10:00 p.m. to 5:00 a.m. in some of the towns with the highest crime rates and presence of organized criminal gangs such as Durán.which is part of the metropolitan area of Guayaquil, and Babahoyo and Quevedo, in the province of Los Ríos.
The measure will be reviewed by the Constitutional Court of Ecuador, which in previous months had already annulled on two occasions the previous state of exception declared by Noboa, considering that the declaration of “internal armed conflict” was not sufficient reason to take this exceptional measure. .
Ecuador became the first country in Latin America in homicides per capita, with a rate of 47.2 per 100,000 inhabitants in 2023, eight times higher than in 2016, as a result of the rise in violence by criminal groups, mainly dedicated to drug trafficking. although they are also dabbling in illegal mining.
Since the beginning of the year, Noboa elevated the fight against organized crime to the category of “internal armed conflict”, thereby classifying these gangs as terrorist groups and non-state belligerent actors..
According to the Government, violent deaths nationwide have decreased by 17% in 2024 compared to the previous year, but episodes of criminal violence have not stopped, while kidnappings and extortions also continue to be reported.
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