Noboa extends state of emergency for 30 days in six crime-plagued provinces

President Daniel Noboa Friday extended for another 30 days the state of emergency in six provinces and one canton given the high level of criminal violence. Noboa’s decree extended the measure he ordered July 2 in Los Rios, Guayas, Santa Elena, Manabi, and El Oro, as well as in the Amazonian province of Orellana and the town of Camilo Ponce Enríquez, in Azuay Province.

According to government statistics, murders in Ecuador’s prisons have fallen 87% in 2024 compared to 2023.

“This action will allow maintaining and reinforcing the strategies and measures implemented by the National Police and the Armed Forces to ensure citizen and integral security,” Noboa’s press office said in a statement. “Under a rigorous technical analysis, the state of exception declaration has been geographically focused in order to attend with greater efficiency the security needs in these territories,” it added.

The president also renewed the curfew ordered on August 8 from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. local time in 19 municipalities and one parish plagued by illegal mining. The order also mentioned that violent acts associated with illegal mining continue and require an exceptional response.

On January 9, Noboa declared that Ecuador was going through an “internal armed conflict” against 22 organized crime groups he labelled as “terrorists,” which called for the deployment of troops to tackle these organizations linked mainly to drug trafficking but also spreading onto illegal mining.

In 2023, Ecuador was one of the most dangerous countries in Latin America, with a homicide rate of 45 per 100,000 inhabitants. Authorities say violent deaths have dropped 17% through August 2024, signaling the success of the government program. Among other actions, Noboa has militarized prisons, formerly run by criminal gangs due to which hundreds of deaths were commonplace and riots just weekly occurrences. Violent deaths in prisons have fallen 87% in 2024 compared to 2023.

The new presidential decree exempts healthcare, security, law enforcement, news media, and judicial employees from the nighttime curfew.