MADRID 3 Ene. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The president of Ecuador, Daniel Noboa, has decreed a state of emergency in seven provinces, two cantons and in the metropolitan district of Quito, for another 60 days, due to the “serious internal commotion” caused by armed groups.
This is Noboa’s second presidential decree of 2025 and is based on the increase in violent events, including deaths and attacks against members of the security forces, in provinces such as Los Ríos, Guayas, or Manabí.
The rest of the restricted areas are the provinces of Orellana, Santa Elena, El Oro, Sucumbíos, as well as the cantons of La Troncal and Camilo Ponce Enríquez. The text clarifies that this measure will be “temporary, subsidiary, extraordinary, conditioned, regulated and supervised” and that the Army will ensure due process.
The decree establishes restrictions on freedom of movement during certain hours of the day in 23 locations and the suspension of the right to inviolability of the home, correspondence and the mobilization of the Armed Forces.
In early January 2024, Noboa decreed a state of internal armed conflict due to the increase in organized crime and the increasing proliferation of armed groups. Since then, this exceptional measure has been renewed, which implies a constant presence of the Armed Forces in the streets.
The renewal of this exceptional measure takes place after a few weeks ago four minors were detained by an Army patrol and found shortly after charred and tied near an air base.
The case has once again called into question the militarization of the State by President Noboa, who clings to official figures to justify the measure, despite the fact that some media outlets use inverse data.