The president of Ecuador, Daniel Noboa, communicated this Monday the deployment of 4,000 personnel between police and military to the capital, Quito, with the aim of reinforcing security in light of the rise in violence attributed to criminal gangs.
"A safe capital translates to a safe country. We have defended this city once from those who intended to impose chaos and anarchy, today we will do it again (...) To those who believe they can intimidate the State and its capital, I say one thing, every attack will have a stronger response," he stated in a video shared on social media while presenting the operation.
The so-called Quito Protection Plan includes the deployment of "2,000 additional police and 2,000 military" in the areas of highest concentration of people, such as offices, educational centers, metro stations, bus stops, markets, banking entities "and neighborhoods," detailed the head of State. According to the newspaper 'Primicias', the uniformed personnel will operate during the peak hours: from 4:00 to 11:00 in the morning and from 5:00 in the afternoon to 2:00 in the morning.
The strategy also foresees the use of a hundred patrol cars and motorcycles, as well as 20 drones, to increase the response capacity of the security forces, which will intensify controls at the entrances to the Ecuadorian capital and in "the sectors with the highest presence of criminal structures."
For now, Quito and other cantons spread across up to ten provinces of the country remain under a state of emergency due to insecurity and high levels of violence.