The President of Ecuador, Guillermo Lasso, announced Wednesday, October 28 that he would present a bill to allow the armed forces to shoot down any unauthorized aircraft, as part of the fight against crime and drug trafficking.
Read also Ecuador: 116 detainees killed in violence in a prison
"Soon we will present to the National Assembly a law that will allow the shooting down of unauthorized aircraft that do not obey the orders of the Ecuadorian air force
,
"
the conservative president said during a military ceremony.
“Gone are the days when Ecuadorian territory was handed over to drug traffickers. They took advantage of the lack of radars, ”
added Guillermo Lasso. He announced the entry into operation, in the coming weeks, of two new radars which will cover 100% of the territory.
Located between Colombia and Peru, the world's two largest cocaine producers, Ecuador is a popular base for drug traffickers who take advantage of the country's permeable borders, major ports and the fact that the US dollar is the national currency.
Guillermo Lasso declared on October 18 the state of emergency throughout the country, plagued by a wave of violence linked to drug trafficking and massacres in prisons that have killed more than 2,000 since the beginning of the year.