July 24, 2023, 9:17 PM
July 24, 2023, 9:17 PM
The Security Committee of Ecuador agreed this Monday (07.24.2023) to declare a state of emergency and a night curfew in the provinces of Manabí and Los Ríos and in the municipality of Durán, one day after the mayor of Manta, Agustín Intriago, was assassinated.
The announcement of the new state of exception was made by the President of Ecuador, the conservative Guillermo Lasso, during a meeting of the Security Committee held in Durán, municipality that is part of the metropolitan area of Guayaquil and that registers one of the highest rates of violence and insecurity in the country.
This new state of exception, decreed due to the increase in crime and violence rates, covers the province of Manabí, whose capital is Manta, and the neighboring province of Los Ríos, which also borders the province of Guayas, where Guayaquil and Durán are located.
In all three jurisdictions, the curfew will be in effect from 10:00 p.m. to 5:00 a.m. local time.
States of exception have been recurring since the beginning of Lasso’s presidential term in May 2021 to try to appease the spikes in violence from the insecurity crisis that Ecuador is going through.
The murder of Intriago, one of the most popular mayors in Ecuador, has shocked the Andean country and has mourned the campaign of the extraordinary general elections, where several candidates have suspended their activities as a sign of mourning.
38-year-old Intriago – who was re-elected last February – was assassinated on Sunday while on a tour of works.
So far there is one detainee for the crime, a citizen of Venezuelan nationality who is hospitalized after being injured in the attack, while that the Police have also been able to recover four mobile phones that are under analysis, as well as the remains of the shots fired at the late mayor.
