The director of Citizen Security and Territorial Control of the city of Portoviejo, in Ecuador, was murdered this Friday in a new crime against local authorities which occurs under the “internal armed conflict” declared since the beginning of the year in the country by President Daniel Noboa to combat organized crime gangs.
Claudia Martínez Barberán, who was responsible for security policies at the local levelwas the victim of an attack while he was traveling to participate in the ceremony of handing over a street, as confirmed through social networks by the mayor of Portoviejo, Javier Pincay.
“The pain that overwhelms us is very strong. Claudia was a brave woman, dedicated to her work as Director of Citizen Security and Territorial Control and today she is taken away from us,” lamented Pincay.
“I ask the national government to militarize the city, (to) increase security for those of us who serve Portoviejo today. I hope that very soon, in honor of all the victims of violence, Ecuador can regain peace,” added the mayor.
The murder of Martínez occurred just three days after the Police indicated that he allegedly thwarted an attack against Pincay by arresting two men with firearms and photographs of the first municipal authority of Portoviejo.
After learning this information, Pincay thanked the intelligence work of the National Police, noted that he could not understand the reasons for the frustrated attack on him and anticipated that they would reinforce security measures.
“These are complicated times, but we must stay together in prayer. We trust that the national government will reinforce security measures for peace of mind,” he said on Tuesday.
Portoviejo is a city of 245,000 inhabitants located in the coastal area of Ecuador, where most of the crisis of violence that plagues the country is concentrated and that in recent years has led it to be among the first nations in Latin America with more homicides, registering a rate of about 45 per 100,000 inhabitants in 2023.
The main causes of this rise in violence in Ecuador are organized crime gangs, especially dedicated to drug trafficking. Noboa elevated the fight against them to the category of “internal armed conflict”, and went on to classify them as terrorist groups and non-state belligerent actors.
There are at least three mayors murdered in Ecuador since the declaration of internal armed conflict, in a list that goes back years and has among its best-known names the presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio and the mayor of Manta Agustín Intriago.
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