Ecuador Declares State of Emergency Amid Violent Clashes

QUITO (Reuters) – Ecuador’s President Guillermo Lasso on Monday declared a state of emergency and night time curfews in three coastal provinces, amid a wave of violence over the weekend within the Andean nation that left no less than eight individuals lifeless.

Lasso declared the state of emergency within the provinces of Manabi and Los Rios and within the metropolis of Duran, close to Guayaquil, after Agustin Intriago, the mayor of coastal metropolis Manta, was shot lifeless on Sunday.

It additionally comes on the again of riots over the weekend within the jail Penitenciaria del Litoral, in Guayaquil, involving clashes between gangs contained in the jail.

Lasso has continuously resorted to declaring states of emergency as Ecuador struggles with jail riots and waves of violence all through the nation.

“We can not deny that organized crime has permeated the state, political organizations and society itself, it’s a drawback that has been brewing for greater than a decade,” Lasso stated after a safety cupboard assembly.

The state of emergency will final for 60 days within the provinces, whereas the curfew will differ throughout that interval, the federal government stated.

The homicide of Manta’s mayor is beneath investigation, Lasso stated.

Sunday’s riots left no less than six inmates lifeless and 11 injured, in response to the SNAI jail authority.

Prisoners additionally took 96 guards as hostages in jails in Cotopaxi, Azuay, Cañar, El Oro and Napo, and are persevering with a starvation strike that started on Sunday in 13 Ecuadorean prisons, with out disclosing causes for the strikes.

The jail system within the South American nation has confronted structural issues for many years, however jail violence has soared since 2021, killing no less than 400 individuals in frequent confrontations, which have drawn the priority of the United Nations and the Inter-American Fee on Human Rights.

(Reporting by Alexandra Valencia; Writing by Carolina Pulice; Enhancing by Sonali Paul)

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