MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

State of Emergency extended in 7 Ecuadorean provinces

Citing “grave internal commotion,” Noboa issued Executive Decree 552, extending the measure

Ecuadorean President Daniel Noboa extended this week the state of emergency for 30 more days in seven provinces and two municipalities, including the capital, Quito, to curb insecurity and maintain public order, social peace, and peaceful coexistence.

The measure constrains the free exercise of the rights to the inviolability of domicile, correspondence, and freedom of transit in the affected areas. The state of emergency was initially declared in January 2024 due to internal armed conflict and persistent violence.

Despite militarization, violence has skyrocketed as drug gangs reroute smuggling traffic nationwide, according to a UN report. The increase in coca cultivation in Colombia and the use of Ecuador, Brazil, and Bolivia as transit countries have contributed to this phenomenon.

Between 2016 and 2022, violence in Ecuador increased by more than 400%. The homicide rate increased by 94.7% between 2021 and 2022, with the highest rates observed in the coastal and neighboring provinces. Since 2018, disputes between local gangs and Mexican criminal groups have intensified violence, especially in border areas. Drug seizures in Ecuador have risen steadily, reflecting the increase in drug trafficking through the country.

Citing “grave internal commotion,” Noboa's Executive Decree 552 provides for the extended state of emergency in the provinces of Guayas, Los Rios, Manabi, Orellana, Santa Elena, El Oro, and Sucumbios, as well as the Quito Metropolitan District and the canton of Camilo Ponce Enriquez, in the southern province of Azuay. The president ordered the National Assembly (Parliament), the Constitutional Court, the United Nations (UN), and the Organization of American States (OAS) to be notified of the measure.

Earlier this year, Ecuador's Constitutional Court ruled that the conditions were not met to speak of “an internal armed conflict,” as Noboa had argued in January 2024 when issuing the decree involving the Armed Forces in internal security operations. This time around, he mentioned an “overflow of violent acts.”