Ecuador on Thursday extended by 30 days the state of emergency and the deployment of the army on the streets throughout the country to fight against an explosion of violence linked to drug trafficking, the government announced.
President Daniel Noboa, elected in November, issued a decree in which he
“renewed for another thirty days”
the state of emergency declared throughout the country on January 8.
This measure, which also applies in prisons, where drugs and weapons had been seized, is linked to the
“serious internal unrest”
and the
“internal armed conflict”
facing the nation, according to the document.
The Constitution authorizes the president to maintain a state of emergency for up to 90 consecutive days.
The Ecuadorian president declared a state of emergency on January 8 following the announcement of the escape of a dangerous gang leader, Adolfo Macias, alias
“Fito”
, who was serving a 34-year sentence for crime. organized, drug trafficking and murder in a prison in Guayaquil (southwest).
7,500 people arrested
The escape of the leader of the country's most powerful criminal gang, still on the run, was followed by the kidnapping of more than 200 police officers and prison guards, explosions and the takeover by a gang armed with a TV channel.
On January 9, the president declared the country in “internal armed conflict” and mobilized soldiers in the streets and prisons to fight around twenty gangs, linked to Mexican cartels and the Albanian mafia, considered “
terrorist”
.
According to the Constitutional Court, the declaration of
“internal armed conflict”
can be made for an indefinite period because it is not linked to the state of emergency.
These measures made it possible to deploy military forces on the streets and prisons.
Security forces have since arrested more than 7,500 people and seized some 65 tons of drugs.
Ecuador is located between Colombia and Peru, the world's main producers of cocaine.