In reaction to prisoner transfers from overcrowded and dangerous prisons, at least five Ecuadorean police officers were killed on Tuesday in explosive attacks. This prompted President Guillermo Lasso to announce a state of emergency in two districts.
Conservative Lasso has frequently claimed that drug gang revenge for his government’s efforts to stop the trade is to blame for violence, including that which occurs within jails.
Drugs travelling to the United States and Europe pass through Ecuador.
According to Lasso in a video message, the strikes over the night and early on Tuesday morning, which included nine bombs in two cities, were an unreserved declaration of war by gangs.
According to Lasso, “What transpired in Guayaquil and Esmeraldas between yesterday night and today plainly demonstrates the bounds that the trans-national organised crime is willing to transgress.” “They are reacting violently because we are doing actions that worry them.”
In Guayas and Esmeraldas provinces, where security personnel will step up operations and a curfew will go into effect at 9 o’clock local time, he announced a state of emergency.
Lasso has utilised emergency declarations numerous times in an effort to stop violence after postponing a personal trip to the United States due to the attacks.
Two police officers were slain in an attack on a patrol car in the suburbs, and six explosives were recorded early on Tuesday morning in various parts of the western city of Guayaquil, according to the police.
Later in the day, three additional officers were slain in the city and its environs, according to a tweet from the police.
In Esmeraldas, there were three explosions reported, and prisoners protesting prisoner exchanges kidnapped seven prison guards.
Following discussions, the officers were freed, according to the SNAI prisons agency.
Since late 2020, jail violence has increased dramatically and at least 400 people have died as a result. Ecuador’s prison system has had fundamental issues for decades.
The most dangerous jail in Ecuador, Penitenciaria in Guayaquil, has relocated 515 inmates to other facilities across the nation, according to SNAI.
According to the statement, the transfers are intended to ease prison population safety concerns and alleviate congestion.
