The President of Ecuador, Guillermo Lasso, announced this Saturday three new urgent measures to combat insecurity in the country, among which he mentioned the authorization to possess and carry weapons for civilian use for personal defense.
"We have modified the decree that allows the possession and carrying of weapons," he said in a message to the nation in which he pointed out that this use is allowed for "personal defense in accordance with the requirements of law and regulations," but not offered more details.
The use of pepper spray for personal defense was also authorized. Likewise, the president pointed out that the manufacture, registration and possession of artisanal weapons is prohibited, and pointed out that private security guards will support the National Police in surveillance and security tasks by carrying their weapons around work stations.
On the other hand, Lasso reported that they have installed the Unified Command Post -which he leads-, permanently in the coastal city of Guayaquil, but it will also rotate through the provinces of Santa Elena and Los Ríos.
The third measure has to do with the decree of a state of emergency in zone 8 of the coastal province of Guayas, which includes Guayaquil, Sanborondón and Durán, and in the provinces of Santa Elena and Los Ríos.
The state of exception includes a curfew from one to five in the morning in order to "solve the root problems", and it will come into force as of this Sunday, April 2, he explained.
"I feel like you are concerned about insecurity," he commented, pointing out that they have created the "For your security" crusade, a strategy that combines the Armed Forces, National Police and Intelligence in favor of the security, peace and tranquility of the citizenry. .
He noted that they have identified fifteen "high-value targets," as he refers to the leaders of criminal groups, of whom six have already been arrested.
Early Friday morning they captured a leader of the criminal group "Los Lobos" in operations deployed in five provinces, which included 25 raids.
But today a judge from the coastal province of Manabí released a leader of "Los Lobos", identified as "el gordo Lucho", he said.
"Despite some bad judges, we are going to act rigorously, with a strong hand," stressed the ruler before recalling that on Friday they strengthened the police presence in Guayaquil with 130 repowered vehicles and more than 400 new police officers, a contingent that adds to the Armed Forces that will watch the streets.
The ruler asked the population to report irregular acts to 1800 CRIMES.
Lasso announced the new measures after various violent events in recent days, including murders, hitmen, the abandonment of a human head in a park and numerous robberies, including the assault on a bank in a busy shopping center in broad daylight. day in the coastal city of Guayaquil.
In that same city, criminals kidnapped a subject this week and hours later they left him with an explosive device attached to his body, on a street in Guayaquil, one of the most affected by crime.
It took bomb squads more than three hours to deactivate the device that was taped to the subject's vest, as well as to his left leg, a scene never before seen in Ecuador.
