Ecuadorian President Guillermo Lasso declared a state of emergency in three provinces of the South American country because of the increase in violence. The measure applies to the provinces of Guayas, Manabi and Esmeraldas as of today, as Lasso wrote on Twitter.
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“Comprehensive and coordinated action” announced
He announced a “comprehensive and coordinated action” between the police and the armed forces, with a total of 9,000 security forces in the three provinces. In addition, in some communities in the coastal region there is a curfew from 11 pm to 5 am for 60 days.
“The announcement comes at a difficult time for these provinces, especially in Guayas,” wrote the Ecuadorian newspaper El Universo. There have been explosions outside the prison and bomb threats in court buildings in recent days.
In September, 118 people were killed in bloody gang fights at a prison near the port city of Guayaquil. It was the worst massacre in the Ecuadorian penal system to date. President Lasso then imposed a 60-day state of emergency on prisons across the country.
Prisons in Ecuador, as elsewhere in Latin America, are overcrowded. Many prisons are controlled by gangs. Numerous imprisoned bosses run their criminal organizations from prison. “The enemy is drug trafficking,” said Guayas governor Pablo Arosemena.