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The coastal provinces of Guayas, Manabí and Esmeraldas in Ecuador will be from Saturday with the streets taken over by police and armed forces.
President Guillermo Lasso announced Friday night on television the state of emergency in three of the twenty-four Ecuadorian provinces and the curfew in some neighborhoods that will last 60 days.
The operation will deploy up to 4,000 police and 5,000 armed forces personnel to counteract the violence generated by drug trafficking and high crime rates, which in recent months have led to hundreds of crimes and prison massacres.
“The streets will feel the weight of our public force. We put 9,000 soldiers at the service and protection of the Ecuadorian family,” Lasso said in a televised speech.
Drug trafficking in Ecuador has caused an increase in crime, which has left 1,255 dead since the beginning of the yearaccording to official figures.
image source, Getty Images
Since February 2021, there have also been several massacres in Ecuador among imprisoned gang members linked to drug trafficking, with a balance of 350 dead.
That same month, two bodies appeared suspended from a pedestrian bridge in Durán, the country’s commercial hub, a method similar to that used in the crimes of the Mexican cartels.
This is the second time President Lasso uses emergency powers to counter the violence in the country, which has increased in recent years.
The government blames the increase on drug gangs that use the country as transit point for exporting narcotics to the United States and Europe.
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