Ecuador President Guillermo Lasso announced Sunday that he would send an additional 1,100 police officers to the coastal city of Guayaquil and also boost the development of armed forces in the financial capital, following a series of assassinations that his government says were linked to the operation. drug trafficking gangs.
Violence and crime, especially in prisons, skyrocketed last year. The government of the conservative Mr. Lasso blames gangs that use the country as a platform for drugs destined for the US and European markets.
The head of state had declared a state of emergency across the country – the measure expired in mid-December – and deployed troops inside. However, citizens and analysts point out that the development of the army will do nothing to address the deep poverty and inadequate policing of areas where waves of violence are occurring.
Mr Lasso told reporters that his government’s actions were “successful” as they “reduced the area where the mafias operated without a state presence”, undisturbed. However, “these actions also had consequences such as an increase in violent deaths on our streets,” he acknowledged.
The conservative banker, who won the presidency rather unexpectedly in April, added – without going into details – that he was replacing the police chief and that his government would spend $ 9 million to modernize police equipment.
The president’s announcements came as police continued to investigate the attack on a working-class neighborhood in Guayaquil that killed at least five people and injured nine others, as well as the murder of a Dutch tourist in another neighborhood of the city a few days earlier.
As of January, 15 tonnes of drugs had been seized, Mr Lasso said, three times as much as in 2021. Traffic through the port of Guayaquil has been virtually eliminated thanks to a new police information center set up in the city, he said.
Troops will henceforth take part in operations in Guayaquil, the head of state added. At the same time, the border guards with Colombia and Peru are being strengthened in order to prevent the trafficking of drugs and weapons, he added.
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