The death of three other police officers after almost a dozen attacks on Tuesday, in which it had already been reported the death of two agentsled the president of Ecuador, Guillermo Lasso, to declare a state of emergency for the provinces of Guayas and Esmeraldas, as well as the imposition of a curfew from 9:00 at night, local time.
“They wanted answers, they will have answers,” Lasso said in an urgent public address at the end of the afternoon.
The National Police reported that the last three deceased law enforcement officers, who died due to the attacks with explosives, were Vicente Dávila Neira, Robert Sarango Agreda and Alberto Iza Palma.
Six explosions were reported early Tuesday morning in various sectors of Guayaquil, including some near two gas stations, leaving infrastructure damage, police commander Fausto Salinas told reporters.
The president attributed the authorship “to transnational organized crime, without offering more details.
The gendarmes died after at least nine attacks with explosives near units of the force and other infrastructure in the cities of Guayaquil and Esmeraldas, according to the Government of Ecuador.
The attacks would have occurred in reaction to an ongoing official plan to reorganize the country’s prisons.
The president announced that his government will act “harshly within the framework of the law” while anticipating that he will travel to the port city of Guayaquil to take charge of the response operations.
The violence broke out amid the execution of a prison reorganization plan being promoted by the penitentiary agency, known as SNAI, Interior Minister Juan Zapata reported in an exchange with reporters.
Ecuador’s prison system has faced structural problems for decades, but prison violence has skyrocketed since the end of 2020, with at least 400 killed in frequent clashes.
Lasso had planned to travel for personal reasons to the city of Orlando, Florida, United States, in mid-afternoon he declined the attempt and communicated publicly to the National Assembly.
[Con la colaboración de Néstor Aguilera, periodista de VOA, desde Quito]
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