Ecuador decrees State of Exception to combat drug trafficking

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Ecuadorian President Guillermo Lasso on Monday (18) declared a state of exception throughout the country in the face of rising crime rates due to drug trafficking and ordered the mobilization of police and military in the streets.

“From now on, our armed forces and police will take to the streets in force, because we are decreeing a state of exception over the entire national territory,” the president said in a speech broadcast by state broadcaster EcuadorTV.

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Lasso, who took office in May, said that “in the streets of Ecuador there is only one enemy: drug trafficking,” and that, “in the last few years, Ecuador has gone from being a country that trafficks drugs to a country that also consumes them.”

The measure is valid for 60 days. A committee will also be formed, bringing together several social and human rights ministries to prevent and curb drug addiction and reinsert drug users into society.

The ruler also decided today to change the Defense Minister, amid the prison crisis and a “period of insecurity” in the country, all effects of drug trafficking.

The state of insecurity “is not only reflected in the number of drugs consumed in our country, but also in the number of crimes related today to the sale of narcotics,” said Lasso, who will receive on Tuesday the head of U.S. diplomacy, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, to talk about security and drug trafficking.

Between January and August, 1,427 murders were reported in the country, 55 more than in all of 2020, according to the Interior Ministry. Two weeks ago, inmates in criminal groups linked to cartels in Mexico and Colombia clashed with gunfire in a Guayaquil penitentiary, leaving 119 dead in one of the worst prison massacres ever recorded in Latin America.

According to official data, drug seizures between January and October reached a record 147 tons, up from 128 tons in 2020.

Lasso noted that police and military personnel would patrol the streets 24 hours a day during a state of emergency. “We will give the security forces the support they need to fight crime,” he said, noting that the government will create a legal defense unit to protect officers who are prosecuted “simply for doing their duty.”