Lasso decreed a state of emergency in three provinces of Ecuador due to drug trafficking

the president of Ecuador, William Lassoannounced on Friday that it decreed a state of emergency for 60 days in three provinces where the highest levels of violence due to drug trafficking are recorded, which has led to hundreds of crimes and prison massacres.

“I have declared a state of emergency in the (coastal) provinces of Guayas, Manabí and Esmeraldas, effective as of midnight today (05:00 GMT on Saturday).),” the president said in a speech broadcast by state media.

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He added that within the framework of the state of emergency, he ordered the mobilization of 4,000 police and 5,000 soldiers to those provinces, within which the curfew will also apply between 11:00 p.m. and 5:00 a.m. local (04:00 a.m. and 10:00 a.m. GMT) for some parishes such as the from the town of Duran.

In that town, neighboring the port of Guayaquil, the commercial center of the country and the capital of Guayas, in February the unusual discovery of two corpses suspended from a pedestrian bridge was recorded in the style of the crimes of the Mexican cartels.

Hand in hand with drug trafficking, crime has grown, leaving 1,255 dead in the first four months of the year, according to official figures. About 440 crimes have occurred in Guayaquil and Duran.

Since February 2021, several massacres have also been unleashed in Ecuador among prisoners who are members of gangs linked to drug trafficking, with 350 deaths.

Source: Elcomercio

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