The President of Ecuador declares a state of emergency in nine provinces of the country

The country ends the year 2025 with a new record for homicides. Between January and November this year, more than 8,300 people were murdered, according to information from the Interior Ministry.

This number exceeds that recorded in 2023, when the country reached a record of 47 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants.

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The Organized Crime Observatory estimates that in 2025, the rate will be 52 violent deaths per 100,000 inhabitants.

The state of exception “due to serious internal unrest” will be extended for 60 days in the coastal provinces of Guayas, Manabí, Santa Elena, Los Ríos, El Oro, Esmeraldas and Santo Domingo, in the Andean Pichincha and in the Sucumbíos Amazon, according to the document signed by Noboa.

The measure also affects the towns of La Maná, in the province of Cotopaxi, as well as Las Naves and Echeandía, in the province of Bolívar.

According to the decree, between November 1 and December 23, more than 1,200 homicides took place in the nine provinces. The majority of deaths were concentrated in Guayas (southwest).

In practice, the state of exception will allow public forces to carry out “immediate searches, when there is evidence” that “members of organized armed groups or organized crime structures are hidden in a place, or that weapons, ammunition, explosives” or drugs are found, the document adds.

Ecuador is waging a war against drug gangs linked to international cartels who, in their bloody struggle for power, have made the country the most violent in Latin America.