QUITO: Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa declared a 60-day 'state of exception' in six provinces and two towns, including the capital Quito, to quell recent outbreaks of violent crime, the president's office said.
"Serious internal unrest and armed conflict called for a focused state of exception to strengthen the work of the Armed Forces and the National Police in order to defend the sovereignty and integrity of the State, citizen security and public order, " said a statement from the General Secretariat of Communication, Xinhua news agency reported.
The executive order temporarily suspends certain constitutional rights in the regions listed, such as "the right to the inviolability of the home and correspondence" and "the right to freedom of assembly."
The measure covers the provinces of Guayas, Los Rios, Manabi, Orellana, Santa Elena, El Oro, the Metropolitan District of Quito in the province of Pichincha, and the town of Camilo Ponce Enriquez in the province of Azuay.
The state of exception also imposes a nighttime curfew every day in 19 towns especially plagued by violence and crime.
The government is "committed to defending citizen security and the sovereignty of the country, " which is why it is "making bold decisions to reinforce security strategies that would reduce the violence rate, " the secretariat said.
Following a spate of killings by gangs, Noboa on January 9 declared the country to be in a state of "internal armed conflict" against 22 criminal organisations classified as "terrorists."
After implementing the measure, military troops were deployed in the streets and high-crime areas to combat criminal groups linked to drug trafficking.
Since taking office on November 23, 2023, Noboa has declared states of exception several times and militarised conflict zones in an attempt to stop spiralling crime, including homicide, kidnapping and extortion.
Ecuador ended 2023 as one of the most dangerous countries in Latin America with a murder rate of 45 homicides per 100, 000 inhabitants, according to the National Police.