Ecuador’s President Guillermo Lasso has declared a state of emergency in the fight against drug gangs and other criminals in the port city of Guayaquil and two provinces. As Lasso announced, the state of emergency that applies from today in Guayaquil, the suburbs of Duran and Samborondon and the coastal provinces of Santa Elena and Los Rios includes a night curfew. The President did not say how long the measures should apply.
“We have a common enemy: crime, drug trafficking and organized crime,” Lasso said in a radio and television address. The conservative president had declared a state of emergency in Guayaquil three times in the past year. In the coastal province of Esmeraldas, which borders Colombia and is particularly affected by crime and drug trafficking, a 60-day state of emergency has been in effect since the beginning of March.
Ecuador borders Colombia and Peru, the two largest cocaine producers in the world. In the meantime, the South American country has developed into a central hub for drug deliveries to Europe and the USA. Most drug shipments go through the port of Guayaquil.
