The President of Ecuador, Daniel Noboa, declared a state of emergency in seven of the country’s 24 provinces Wednesday for the internal armed conflict.
Article 1 of Executive Decree 275 placed the provinces of Guayas, El Oro, Santa Elena, Manabí, Sucumbíos, Orellana, Los Ríos, and the canton of Camilo Ponce Enríquez in the province of Azuay under a state of emergency. The article also stated that the decree is necessary because law enforcement agencies are of the view that normal legal means are not sufficient to neutralise the threat.
Article 2 of the same decree stipulates that under this localized state of emergency, the constitutional rights to inviolability of the home and privacy of correspondence are suspended. In this regard, the second general provision of the decree states that the National Police and the Armed Forces will not require prior judicial authorization to enter private homes and intercept correspondence within the affected provinces and cantons. Furthermore, the decree stipulates that at the end of the state of emergency, a comprehensive report must be compiled, systematized, and submitted to the Public Security and State Council, detailing the operations carried out and the considerations involved.
President Daniel Noboa posted a video, on his X (previously Twitter) account, stating that the country has entered into a new localized stage of the war, with criminal gangs having entrenched themselves in seven provinces despite the military offensive. As a result, Noboa said the state of exception was declared in the provinces that the Armed Forces and Police require larger flexibility to act swiftly which may not be legal in times of peace.
Previously, Noboa has made comments along similar lines. In March 2024, he claimed that while supporting human rights, he would not permit human rights to be used as a cover to commit murder, nor would he tolerate attacks on police and armed forces personnel.
Prominent human rights groups such as Human Rights Watch (HRW) have documented numerous egregious rights violations perpetrated by security forces since the declaration of an internal armed conflict. However, Article 3 of Executive Decree 275 merely mandates that the National Human Rights Authority systematizes and reports on armed attacks, threats, or risks emanating from organized crime syndicates, terrorist groups, and non-state actors during this non-international armed conflict. HRW’s research indicates many more violations are likely to have occurred since Noboa proclaimed a state of internal armed conflict. According to HRW reports, over the past four months, many detainees were denied their legal rights and never brought before prosecutors or judges. Furthermore, HRW states that numerous individuals have been subjected to extralegal, brief detentions and reprisals, beatings, or other degrading treatment at the hands of soldiers and police officers. Consequently, HRW has urged Noboa to strictly limit the armed forces’ role to circumstances of absolute necessity.
Notably, on January 8, 2024, Noboa declared a nationwide state of emergency through Decree 110. The decree covered detention facilities under the Social Rehabilitation System, prompted by escalating unrest following the Guayaquil regional prison break by Adolfo Macías. On January 9, Decree 111 officially acknowledged an internal armed conflict in Ecuador, based on a police assessment that criminal organizations exhibited a “minimum level of organization” and engagement in armed confrontations linked to organized crime activities between 2014 and 2023.
