MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Curfew extended as Ecuador “winning battle” against organized crime

Noboa pledged not to rest until all police and military personnel are properly equipped

Ecuadorean President Daniel Noboa Monday announced a 30-day extension to the curfew from 11:00 pm to 5:00 am decreed on Jan. 8 when a wave of violence erupted nationwide as notorious prison inmates escaped unleashing riots at several corrections facilities and other attacks by drug-trafficking gangs that resulted in over 2,000 arrests.

In a broadcast interview, Noboa explained that the scope of the measure which will vary from one canton to another would be detailed shortly. In the president's view, his decision will entail the reactivation of the economy, particularly that of tourism and small and medium enterprises (SMEs). “We also cannot allow these narco-terrorist groups to destroy our way of life and our day-to-day work,” Noboa argued.

The head of state insisted his government was winning the war against organized crime after the leader of the Los Choneros gang -Adolfo Macías, alias Fito- broke out of jail as he was about to be transferred to a maximum-security prison. He had relocated his wife, children, and other family members to an exclusive country club in the Argentine province of Córdoba but they were deported back to Ecuador. Fito is still at large.

“We are giving strong blows to these narco-terrorist groups,” Noboa was quoted by local media as saying. “We cannot rest and we cannot believe that this has been solved in two weeks. We have to keep fighting,” he added.

According to official data, at least 2,763 people have been arrested during the first fortnight after the government declared an “internal armed conflict” against organized crime, with 158 of them remanded for alleged terrorism. According to the Ecuadorian government, the daily average of violent deaths dropped from 28 to 6 thanks to the action taken.

Noboa, 36, also said he believed that the country's Prisons Bureau known as SNAI should be “completely” reformed while there should be a “permanent presence of the military” in the penitentiary system. He also underlined the importance of not hesitating in this “historic moment where the country was one step away from getting out of our hands.”

“We had everything against us, but we are winning this battle,” Noboa also said. He also spoke of a “common enemy” that intends “to weaken us as a nation.”

“The Police and the Armed Forces proved to be up to these challenges,” he also noted while accusing “traditional politics” of turning a blind eye to these problems. The President also pledged not to rest until all police and military personnel are properly equipped and fully protected. ”Now it is up to the National Assembly (Parliament) to give them financial support,“ Noboa insisted while defending his bill to raise the value-added tax from 12% to 15% to that end. ”Too bad there are politicians who do not understand the message and the urgency. They prefer rhetoric. They talk. We do,” he stressed.