Ecuador declares state of emergency as violence erupts

Ecuador experienced a night of terror following President Daniel Noboa's decision to declare a state of emergency throughout the country, as violence erupted after drug trafficking kingpin Adolfo Macías, alias Fito, escaped from a prison in Guayas province.

Vehicles were set on fire in Esmeraldas province bordering Colombia, a car bomb exploded in capital Quito, three police officers in Machala and one in Quito were kidnapped, and inmates escaped from another prison in Riobamba in central Ecuador, one of whom was thought to be Colón Pico, a dangerous criminal who the attorney general, Diana Salazar, recently accused of wanting to murder her.

Videos of police officers taken hostage at Turi prison, in the south of the country, were circulated on social networks, in which the perpetrators threatened to kill anyone seen on the streets at night or who tried to enter the prison compound.

In the video, kneeling prison staff were threatened with guns and machetes and forced to ask the president for help. In another video, a police officer held in Quito was also obliged to call for assistance at gunpoint.

The situation escalated further after the president announced a state of emergency with a curfew between 11pm and 5am each day and other restrictions to rights. The constitutional court was also sent a package of nine questions to be added to the 11 sent last week for a public referendum on tackling surging organized crime in the country.

The additional questions include allowing the extradition of Ecuadorans accused of international crimes, stripping criminals of assets of illicit origin and declaring certain areas of national interest to combat illegal mining, among other topics.

The first two issues have been requested by various sectors, particularly extraditions, so that organized crime bosses can be tried and punished in other countries, as Colombia has previously permitted.

In a video broadcast on social media on Monday, before the serious incidents took place that night, Noboa said the violence was the response to his government's actions against drug-trafficking gangs, demonstrating that current laws are not sufficient to address the crisis.

"The time when those convicted of drug trafficking, contract killings and organized crime dictate to the government what to do has come to an end. We will not negotiate with terrorists, and we will not rest until we restore peace for all Ecuadorans," Noboa said.

Last month, the attorney general organized an anti-corruption and drug trafficking operation involving more than 75 raids in seven provinces, in what was described as the largest in history and a "clear snapshot of how drug trafficking has infiltrated state institutions, operating through ill-gotten funds within judicial and political spheres to achieve impunity in some cases," Salazar said on social media platform X. 

The operation, called Metastasis, led to the arrest of around 30 people, including Wilman Terán, president of the judiciary council, which oversees the judiciary in the country, as well as Pablo Ramírez, former drug czar and previous head of the SNAI, which oversees the country’s prison system. A number of prosecutors, judges, prison guards and police officers were also detained.

At the time, Salazar warned that criminal groups would unleash a wave of violence in response.

Due to its geographical location, between Colombia and Peru, the world's two biggest cocaine producers, Ecuador has become an important center for international drug trafficking, which has resulted in a rapid rise in violent crime.

According to data reported by the police, in 2023 there were 7,600 violent deaths, up from 4,600 in 2022 and 2,100 in 2021.