Ecuador under fire: Daniel Noboa admits that foreign military support is needed to fight drug traffickers

President Daniel Noboa acknowledged that Ecuador it needs foreign military personnel and help to combat the violence and insecurity that it has suffered in recent years and which has worsened in recent days, after the escape from prison of the leaders of two of the main drug trafficking gangs in the country, and which has led to around twenty arrests in the last hours.

“We accepted the support of Argentina and the United States. This is not a time for ego or vanity, to say “no, we will protect our sovereignty, don’t let the military come.” We need military support in terms of people, soldiers, intelligence assistance, artillery and equipment,” the president admitted in an interview with FM Mundo on Thursday.

The United States announced Thursday that Defense and Security officials will travel “in the coming weeks” to Ecuador to “explore” with local officials how to “most effectively” implement a collaborative process to “address the threat posed by criminality transnational”. organizations.

In a statement signed by State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller, Washington announced that the head of the Southern Command, General Laura Richardson, will travel to Quito; Under Secretary of the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement, Todd Robinson, and Deputy Under Secretary of the Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs, Kevin Sullivan.

The text warns that since Monday, Ecuador “has experienced atrocious levels of violence and terrorism at the hands of narco-criminal elements targeting innocent civilians.”

Support from Argentina

For her part, Argentine Foreign Minister Diana Mondino had a conversation on Thursday with her Ecuadorian counterpart, Gabriela Sommerfeld, to whom she reiterated “the Argentine government’s support for the measures and actions carried out by the democratically elected Ecuadorian government in response to acts of violence perpetrated by organized criminal groups”.

At the same time, he expressed “Argentina’s willingness to provide the collaboration requested by the Ecuadorian authorities.”

Security Minister Patricia Bullrich had indicated – in an interview with the TN channel – that the authorities were willing to “help and send security forces, if necessary, to help Ecuador, because it is a continental issue, it influences Argentina “.

Meanwhile, the Minister of Defense, Luis Petri, and the new Chief of Joint Staff, Xavier Julián Isaac, had a meeting with the Ecuadorian ambassador to Argentina, Lotty Farah Andrade Abdo, to whom they expressed their “solidarity” and held a greeting that “they have the necessary means to respond to any need” coming from that country.

“Internal armed conflict”

Noboa declared a state of “internal armed conflict” in Ecuador on Tuesday and established the category of “terrorists” for 22 criminal gangs that operate in the country essentially as drug trafficking organizations.

The worsening of the situation began on Sunday, when one of the most feared drug lords, Adolfo Macías, alias Fito, head of the country’s main criminal gang, Los Choneros, disappeared from his prison in Guayaquil.

A violent assault ensued, with prison riots, kidnappings of policemen, explosive attacks and burning vehicles.

The following day, Fabricio Colón Pico, leader of Los Lobos, also escaped last Thursday promised to surrender if Noboa had guaranteed his life.

VAT increase to finance the war on drug trafficking

Meanwhile, the president sent to Congress a bill to increase VAT from 12% to 15% to finance the “internal armed conflict”as well as paying for the “social and economic crisis” affecting the country, the government reported on Friday.

The president also announced that he would not attend Bernardo Arévalo’s inauguration as president of Guatemala on Sunday or the Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, next week due to the security crisis in the country.

“President Noboa’s plan was to be present at the inauguration of Arévalo’s government in Guatemala, where he would have a personal conversation with (his Mexican counterpart, Andrés) López Obrador,” explained the Presidency’s Secretary General of Communications, Roberto Izurieta. , according to the newspaper First fruits.

Noboa’s decree also established the deployment of the Armed Forces to fight more than 20 criminal and drug trafficking gangs.

As part of the military offensive, more than 20 people suspected of belonging to organized crime groups have been arrested in the last few hours.

Since the wave of violence intensified on Monday, lThe “internal war” has already caused 14 deaths and hundreds of prisoners, while nearly 140 officers and employees were still being held by mutinous prisoners in six prisons.

Meanwhile, the United Nations Human Rights Office warned that any restriction of freedoms in Ecuador must respect the “principles of legality, necessity, proportionality and non-discrimination”, so that the emergency measures dictated by Noboa are “limited”. to contain the escalation of violence by criminal groups.

This was warned by the organisation’s spokeswoman, Liz Throssell, who assured that the United Nations is following the situation “closely” and is aware of the “enormous challenges” that the country faces in terms of security, the agency reported press Europa Press.

Source: agencies