Authorities in Ecuador have arrested a total of 28 suspects linked to the numerous violent attacks on Monday night in the provinces of Guayas and Esmeraldas (north) that claimed the lives of five police officers.
The President of Ecuador, Guillermo Lasso, who has suspended a visit to the United States due to the emergency situation in the country, explained that joint actions have been undertaken between the Armed Forces, the Police and the Ecuadorian Intelligence services.
Only during Tuesday more than 18 attacks were registered which, according to the authorities, were deliberately planned with the aim of causing terror among the population of both northern regions, reports ‘El Comercio’.
One of the episodes that has caused the most commotion has been the attack against a health center in Bastión Popular, a neighborhood in the city of Guayaquil, in the province of Guayas. «They are peace centers», recalled the Minister of the Interior, Juan Zapata, who called the attack a «terrorist act».
President Lasso has declared a state of emergency in the provinces of Guayas and Esmeraldas after the death of five policemen during the aforementioned day of violence in the cities of Guayaquil and Durán. The exception measure contemplates a curfew for the next 45 days.
According to data offered by the country’s authorities, the province of Guayas concentrates 62 percent of the explosive attacks registered in the country.
This wave of nighttime violence occurred just one day after rumors surfaced about the possible transfer of prisoners from the Penitenciaría del Litoral, scene of several violent episodes in the last year in which dozens of inmates have died.
