The Ecuadorian Army ensures results through security strategy

The initiative consists of a special police and army unit created by the current government at the end of November, and is currently only implemented in the cities of Guayaquil, Esmeraldas, Machala and Durán, cantons chosen due to their high level of risk.

In a press conference held by Police Chief Cesar Zapata on Tuesday, the number of violent deaths in Duran and Machala decreased between November 25 and December 5, 2023.

In Machala, the number of deaths increased from 2.8 per week to 0.5. While in rotation, Zapata said, he dropped from 20.5 to 13.7.

For his part, Head of the Joint Command of the Armed Forces, Jaime Villa, explained that the army focused its efforts on controlling weapons, ammunition and explosives.

During the operations, 13,000 explosive materials were seized and 11 people were arrested. “We also confiscated 3.6 tons of drugs, and destroyed two illegal runways and three illegal border crossings,” Villa said.

Villa also stated that the operations of the security bloc will now focus on the ports of Ecuador, and in this sense, he revealed that they entered with members of the Navy into one of the ports of Guayaquil, and it was transformed into a logistical center for drug smuggling, and that 68 percent of the drug seizures were concentrated.

On Tuesday, Christian Social Party (CSP) council members presented the Anti-Vaccine (Racketeering) Bill against crime and seeking to strengthen the justice system to prosecute criminals.

Ecuadorians live in terror and are afraid to do so, as legislator Otto denounced.

Ecuador is experiencing the largest insecurity crisis in its history, with murders, kidnappings, extortion, prison riots and attacks becoming increasingly frequent.

Guayaquil is among the most violent cities in the world and, along with Samborrondon and Duran, is part of the so-called Zone 8, where violent deaths will exceed 2,500 in 2023.

Recently, the Global Report Against Transnational Organized Crime (GETOC) placed Ecuador among the countries with the highest crime rates in the world, while the Andean country’s government attributes the insecurity crisis to drug trafficking and disputes between criminal gangs over drug control. trading. Drugs.

m/nta