Ecuador declares "state of emergency" as drug violence increases

Ecuadorian President Guillermo Lasso declared a state of emergency as the country struggled with a rise in drug violence and ordered police and military to take to the streets.

"Start immediately; our army and police will be felt forcefully on the streets as we decide a state of emergency throughout the nation," Lasso said in a speech on Monday broadcast by state channel EcuadorTV.

"On the streets of Ecuador, there is only one enemy: drug trafficking," the right-wing leader declared, adding that "in recent years, Ecuador has become a drug-trafficking country, and it is the one that also consumes drugs."

Earlier on Monday, Lasso appointed a new defence minister as the country emerged from a substantial prison crisis.

In recent months, Ecuador faced deadly violence in its prisons, prompting Lasso to also declare an emergency in the prison system and deploy troops to secure prisons and prevent riots.

In September, at least 116 prisoners were killed and dozens more injured in the Penitenciaria del Litoral in Guayas province, the deadliest outbreak of prison violence in the country's history.

As per official data, since the beginning of 2021, around 200 inmates have been killed in violence in Ecuadorian prisons. The prisons turned into battlefields for prisoners with ties to massive Mexican drug cartels. More than 100 people also died in violence alone last year, many of them beheaded.