Similar to the notorious drug wars in Colombia during the 1990s, Ecuador has recently erupted into a war involving organized gangs against the authorities, resulting in casualties and a state of emergency across the country. At least ten people have been killed, including two police officers, in the conflict between security forces and the military against drug gangs since President Daniel Noboa declared a state of emergency nationwide on Monday, according to preliminary reports released by the police on Tuesday.
A police official in Guayaquil, during a press conference, announced that eight fatalities and three injuries occurred in this coastal city located in the southwest of the country, which is considered a stronghold for drug gangs. The national police stated in a post on the platform "X" that two of its members were "brutally killed by armed criminals" in the neighboring city of Nobol.
This casualty report came shortly after President Noboa issued a decree stating that the country is experiencing "internal armed conflict." In his decree, the president ordered the "mobilization and intervention of the armed forces and national police to ensure sovereignty and the unity of national territory against organized crime and terrorist organizations."
Noboa declared a state of emergency across Ecuador, including in prisons, following the escape of José Adolfo Macías, known as "Fito," the leader of the country’s most dangerous criminal gang, and unrest and riots occurring in several prisons. The power of these gangs has increased in recent years, as Ecuador has become a key transit point for cocaine produced in neighboring Peru and Colombia. For years, Ecuador has been experiencing violence stemming from power struggles among competing local gangs connected to Mexican and Colombian cartels.
