Ecuador President decrees state of emergency in five provinces
Quito, Ecuador Reuters Ecuadorean President Daniel Noboa on Tuesday decreed a state of emergency in five coastal provinces because of “internal armed conflict”. The measure marks the second security-based emergency declaration by Noboa, who took office in November on promises to turn around a deteriorating security situation that has led to a spike in violent […]
Ecuador’s President Noboa seeks approval for security measures in Sunday vote
Quito, Ecaudor Reuters Ecuadorean President Daniel Noboa is seeking voter support on Sunday for a raft of security measures in a national referendum, as he battles spiking violence that has made international headlines and left a man dead even as voters went to the polls. Ecuador’s prisons agency said on Sunday afternoon that the director […]
Mexico welcomes home Ecuador embassy staff after armed raid
Mexico City, Mexico Reuters Mexico welcomed the return of its Ecuador embassy personnel on Sunday, two days after police raided the facility in an act that triggered an abrupt diplomatic break while provoking global shock and condemnation of the South American nation. Ecuadorean police and soldiers forced their way into Mexico’s embassy in Quito late […]
Ecuador police capture leader of Colombian dissident rebel group
Quito, Ecuador Reuters Ecuador’s police on Monday said they have captured the leader of Colombian armed group Oliver Sinisterra and that Ecuadorean authorities will return him to Colombia. News of the capture comes amid a military offensive launched by Ecuador’s government to combat criminal gangs. Ecuador’s President Daniel Noboa gestures at a ceremony to deliver […]
Ecuadorean prosecutor killed by gang, two arrested – police
Guayaquil/Quito, Ecuador Reuters Two suspects have been arrested in connection with the murder of Ecuadorean prosecutor Cesar Suarez who was allegedly targeted by a gang, police said on Thursday, as security forces continued interventions in prisons. Ecuador is reeling from a wave of violence, with President Daniel Noboa declaring 22 gangs as “terrorist” groups and […]
Organised crime prosecutor in Ecuador’s Guayas killed – AG’s office
Quito, Ecuador Reuters Ecuadorean prosecutor Cesar Suarez, who focused on pursuing organised trans-national crime in Guayas province, one of the country’s most violent areas and the site of an on-air attack on a television station last week, has been killed, the Attorney General said on Wednesday. Ecuador has suffered a recent burst of violence, including […]
Dozens of prisoners escape Ecuador jail amid continued military operations
Quito, Ecuador Reuters Forty-three prisoners remain at large after escaping a prison in northern Ecuador, the SNAI prisons agency said on Monday, as security forces continued operations throughout the country. President Daniel Noboa declared a 60-day state of emergency last week, including a nighttime curfew, and designated 22 criminal groups as terrorists. Members of the […]
Essay: How Ecuador went from being Latin America’s model of stability to a nation in crisis
EDUARDO GAMARRA, a professor of politics and international relations at Florida International University, looks – in an article first piblished on The Conversation – at recent events in Ecuador…
Ecuador cracks down on prisons to restore order after hostage crisis
Quito, Ecuador Reuters Ecuador’s police and military on Sunday were aiming to restore order inside the country’s dangerous prisons where dozens of staff were held hostage by inmates amid an uptick in violence in the Andean nation. Prisoners sit huddled, guarded by police and armed forces, during an operation said to be at Turi prison […]
Families of Ecuador hostages demand action as Noboa details plans for new prisons
Quito, EcuadorReuters Ecuadorean President Daniel Noboa laid out plans for two new high-security prisons on Thursday, part of his pledge to wage war on drug gangs, as the families of nearly 180 prison staff being held hostage by inmates demanded action to rescue them. A dramatic spike in violence this week – including the on-air […]