Ecuadorian President Guillermo Lasso declared a state of emergency on Tuesday (November 1st) in two coastal provinces where a wave of violence by drug gangs left at least five police officers dead a few hours earlier. “I declare a state of emergency in the provinces of Guayas and Esmeraldas, and a curfew from 9 p.m.” (02:00 GMT), said the Head of State in a speech broadcast on radio and television.
The Constitution allows the president to declare a state of emergency and call in the army when the country is faced with serious internal unrest. The Interior Ministry said Tuesday’s attacks made “five dead among the police” in Guayaquil, economic heart of the country and capital of Guayas (southwest) and the neighboring city of Duran.
Attack against a police station
Earlier, Interior Minister Juan Zapata reported the death of two policemen in Guayaquil, as well as two others injured. The two police officers were shot and killed in their vehicle in Guayaquil and the other two were injured in an attack on a police station in the same city on Tuesday at dawn, in response to a transfer of 200 prisoners, it was then specified. the police.
For its part, the prison administration announced that eight prison guards had been briefly taken hostage on Tuesday in Esmeraldas (northwest of Ecuador). “It is a reaction of organized crime”Interior Minister Juan Zapata told reporters in Quito, stressing that there had been a total of nine attacks. “The eight agents of the Prison Security and Surveillance Corps detained have been released” in Esmeraldas, the prison administration (SNAI) had announced to the press via WhatsApp, without providing further details.