Quito, Ecuador
Reuters
Ecuadorean President Daniel Noboa on Wednesday declared a new state of emergency in seven of the country’s 24 provinces, as well as one area of a further province, citing a rise in the number of violent deaths and other crimes in those jurisdictions.
The measure will be in force for 60 days in Guayas, El Oro, Santa Elena, Manabi, Sucumbios, Orellana and Los Rios provinces, as well as one area of Azuay province, according to a decree signed by Noboa, who in January declared Ecuador was at war and designated 22 criminal gangs as terrorist groups.
Ecuador’s President Daniel Noboa looks on as his wife Lavinia Valbonesi (not pictured) takes part in a referendum that asks voters to support mostly security-related questions to fight rising violence, in Guayaquil, Ecuador, on 21st April, 2024. PICTURE: Reuters/Santiago Arcos/File photo
The decree will be submitted to the Constitutional Court, the government said earlier on Wednesday. The court this month ruled that a previous emergency declaration in five provinces was not sufficiently justified, rendering it null.
Security forces will be able to enter homes and intercept correspondence in the targeted provinces without prior authorisation, Noboa said in the decree.
Noboa blames violence – including the January invasion of a television station by gunmen and a mass hostage-taking of prison guards – on drug gangs which move cocaine from Colombia and Peru through Ecuador.
He has previously used state of emergency declarations to increase police and military operations meant to fight thousands of murders and other crimes.
The government says violent deaths fell 28 per cent in the first months of the year, compared with the same period in 2023, though it has recognised that other crimes like kidnappings and extortion rose.
Meanwhile, Ecuador’s Attorney General’s office is investigating eight extrajudicial killings reported to have taken place during the country’s most recent state of emergency, after rights groups warned authorities were not taking steps to prevent abuses.
The killings are the most serious rights abuses reported by detained people, local advocacy groups and victims’ families that allegedly took place during the January to April state of emergency.
Under the measure Noboa deployed thousands of troops on streets and in prisons, with security forces making more than 18,000 arrests.
The Attorney General’s office said it is also looking into dozens of accusations of torture and other alleged abuses.
Neither the government nor the armed forces responded to requests for comment on alleged abuses.
Soldiers in an armoured vehicle patrol the city’s historic centre following an outbreak of violence a day after Ecuador’s President Daniel Noboa declared a 60-day state of emergency following the disappearance of Adolfo Macias, leader of the Los Choneros criminal gang from the prison where he was serving a 34-year sentence, in Quito, Ecuador, on 9th January, 2024. PICTURE: Reuters/Karen Toro/File Photo
The crackdown in Ecuador mirrors strategies deployed elsewhere, particularly in El Salvador, where heavy-handed tactics under President Nayib Bukele have led to an “alarming regression” in human rights, according to Amnesty International. Bukele has denied abuses.
In a letter to Noboa’s government on Wednesday, the director of advocacy group Human Rights Watch Americas, Juanita Goebertus, said Ecuadorean authorities “appear to have taken little or no measure to prevent human rights violations or to ensure that those responsible are held accountable.”
Noboa has defended security forces’ behavior and previously shied away from comparisons to Bukele.
“I won’t have any non-patriot tell us we’re violating anyone’s rights, when we’re protecting those of the vast majority,” Noboa said in February.
We rely on our readers to fund Sight's work - become a financial supporter today!
For more information, head to our Subscriber's page.
Checkpoint shooting
Carlos Javier Vega, 19, was killed in February after being shot at a check point in Guayaquil as he traveled with his cousin, Eduardo Alfredo Velasco, Velasco told Reuters.
Stopped at the checkpoint, Velasco said he accidentally grazed the boot of a soldier while reversing his car.
“I wanted to get out and see the damage, that’s when I heard the shot,” Velasco said, adding that he saw his injured cousin change color as other shots rang out.
Velasco said he drove through the checkpoint after the shots were fired to take his cousin to hospital but soon realized he was also wounded.
Unable to drive further, he got out of the car and was met by the troops who had shot at them, he said.
“They threw me to the ground, hit me, stepped on my head. They pulled my cousin out from the car, they stepped on his head and they hit him,” Velasco said.
Ecuador’s military did not respond to questions including about why soldiers shot at the car.
Police officers patrol the city’s historic centre following an outbreak of violence a day after Ecuador’s President Daniel Noboa declared a 60-day state of emergency following the disappearance of Adolfo Macias, leader of the Los Choneros criminal gang from the prison where he was serving a 34-year sentence, in Quito, Ecuador, on 9th January, 2024. PICTURE: Reuters/Karen Toro/File photo
Three soldiers told a court that Velasco tried to move through the checkpoint and ran over one trooper’s left foot, according to documents seen by Reuters.
Velasco was charged with resisting arrest and attacking the troops, though the charges were later dropped.
An Instagram post by Ecuador’s military from 2nd February, featuring a blurred image of what Velasco and Vega’s mother, Laura Ipanaque, said is Vega’s body, described an operation against “terrorists.”
Vega’s killing is being investigated by the Attorney General’s office.
Authorities view abuses as collateral damage in the fight against drug gangs, said Billy Navarrete, director of Guayaquil advocacy group the Permanent Committee of Defending Human Rights.
“The official discourse displays these damages as inevitable in the face of a greater evil,” Navarrete said.
The Attorney General’s office said it is also investigating 48 allegations of torture and 67 cases of overstepping of duties. It did not respond to requests for clarification.
“I wouldn’t want another mother, another family to go through what we’re going through,” Ipanaque said.
