Ecuador temporarily moves its military operations center to the city of Manta after the murder of three people

“Today, seeing what has happened in recent days, especially what happened last night, which was outrageous, I have made the decision” to temporarily change the headquarters of the military and police commands, Noboa announced when participating in the inauguration of a meeting on security against organized crime groups.

He added that in the coming weeks he will be mainly in Guayaquil and Manta, “giving an example and following up on what is happening and the actions that our law enforcement forces, as well as our ministers, are going to take.”

On Sunday Alternate assemblyman Cristhian Nieto and two other people, including his wife, were shot during a circus performance in the port of Manta (west), one of the centers of drug trafficking operations.

34 years old and from the opposition Citizen Revolution party, Nieto was a substitute assembly member for legislator Mónica Salazar, representative for the province of Los Ríos (southwest).

At least a dozen politicians have been murdered since the 2023 election campaigns in Ecuador, once considered an island of peace in the middle of Peru and Colombia, the world’s largest cocaine producers.

Noboa noted that before coming to the Government it was known that the “biggest challenge” would be to combat organized crime. “However, when we begin to uncover crime we encounter even greater challenges: unblocking criminal structures, entrenched even in politics and the judicial system,” he said.

He added that together with the National Police and the Armed Forces they look “this problem face to face” and confront it.

“There are enormous attempts to destabilize us from all sides, but I want you to know that the construction of this new Ecuador will not stop and will advance at a firm pace to offer new opportunities to young people, with real progress and development,” he added.

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Noboa, 36, said that people “are tired of that old policy, of the attack, of the manipulation,” and noted that his Government is “demonstrating that the youth carries the impulse for renewal, that we are the new force that the country needs to leave behind a past of violence, insecurity and misery”.

However, he commented that to maintain this fight, inter-institutional and international cooperation is required.

“The Union is the true force to face all the tests that are put before us. Together we will walk firmly towards the greatest objective we have: cleanse our nations of the mafias and achieve true real well-being for all citizens,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Ecuadorian Minister of the Interior, Mónica Palencia, assured this Monday that will intensify security operations and the fight against organized crime, especially in the coastal provinces of Guayas, Manabí, El Oro and Santa Elena, hit by violence.

Palencia, in a press conference, indicated that the State security forces will increase their operations in the four coastal provinces because in recent weeks there has been an increase in violent activities by organized crime groups.
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For his part, the Minister of Defense, Gian Carlo Loffredo, stated that one of the strategies to weaken these violent groups is to “affect their structure” and that therefore the operations will focus on prison control and the territories dominated by the bands.

He specified that operations will be reinforced in the fight against drug and weapons trafficking, which are usually the support of criminal groups.

Furthermore, Loffredo assured that these actions “will intensify in the coming weeks.”
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​*With information from EFE and AFP