After a horrific wave of violence that was caused by drug traffickers, Ecuador made the decision to extend the state of emergency to include a third day.
According to a statement from the administration, President Guirmo Laso declared “the enlargement” of the state of emergency in order to strengthen “operations that aim to safeguard the safety of citizens.”
Six million people, or one-third of Ecuador’s population, live in Gawaias, Izmalda, and Santo Domingo de Los Tsashilas (West), and the 45-day state of emergency limits their access to constitutional rights.
The government has the right to send the army to these three provinces where wandering is prohibited every day for eight hours starting at nine at night, depending on the level of urgency (the second in the morning of Greenwich time).
The authorities announced the state of emergency on Tuesday in the provinces of Guaeias and Izmirda after a series of shootings, bombs and car bombs against targets, including police and hospital centers.
Eight people lost their lives, 23 were injured, including police and military personnel, and 15 more were hurt on Thursday as a new uprising broke out in a prison in the Gawayaid region (southwest).
In Ecuador, over 400 people have died since February 2021, drug traffickers, some of them are connected to Mexican cartels, are engaged in a street war and jail insurgency.
Between Colombia and Peru, where the majority of the world’s cocaine is produced, is Ecuador, which has evolved from a drug transit nation into a significant hub for exporting to Europe and the US.
The majority of the 210 tonnes of drugs the authorities captured in 2021 were cocaine.
Since the year’s beginning, there have been 160 tonnes of seizures.
Ecuador broadens the definition of the emergency to stop drug gang violence
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