Ecuador's presidential campaign launches amid state of emergency, drug war

By AFP and Entorno | 2025-01-07

QUITO -- The monthlong campaign for general elections in Ecuador began on January 5 as the South American country faces a challenging war against drug gangs.

The campaign, which includes 16 presidential candidates, including incumbent president Daniel Noboa, leftist Luisa Gonzalez and Indigenous leader Leonidas Iza, will end on February 6, three days before the election.

The National Electoral Council called on all candidates to conduct campaigns of "tolerance and mutual respect that promote reasoned debate (and) a culture of peace."

War against drugs

The presidential campaign kicked off just days after Noboa declared a state of emergency in Quito and seven of Ecuador's 24 provinces, responding to escalating violence stemming from the country's war against drug trafficking gangs.

Alleged members of the Latin King gang are presented to the media following a joint operation by the armed forces and national police in Durán, Ecuador, in December. [Marcos Pin/AFP]

A presidential decree issued on January 3 establishes a 60-day measure suspending the rights to home inviolability and correspondence in the coastal provinces of Guayas, Los Ríos, Manabí, Santa Elena and El Oro, as well as in the Amazonian provinces of Orellana and Sucumbíos.

The state of emergency was declared in response to severe internal unrest and the internal armed conflict declared in January 2024 because of escalating drug violence.

The measure encompasses Quito (Pichincha province) and the towns of La Troncal (Cañar) and Camilo Ponce Enríquez (Azuay) and places the penal system under military control.

'Escalating violence'

The Noboa administration, which took office in November 2023, has resorted to emergency powers to counter the relentless surge of drug gangs battling for control in the streets and prisons.

"This declaration is grounded in (...) the escalating violence, rising crime rates and the prolonged activity of organized armed groups," states the decree published on the presidential electronic portal.

Organized crime in recent years has dramatically reshaped Ecuador, a country once regarded as an "island of peace" nestled between Colombia and Peru, the world's top cocaine producers.

With a population of 17 million, Ecuador's homicide rate surged from six per 100,000 inhabitants in 2018 to a record of 47 in 2023.

In 2024, Ecuadorian authorities seized more than 282 tons of drugs, exceeding the 219 tons confiscated in 2023.

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