On Sunday, Ecuador’s President Guillermo Lasso declared a 30-day state of emergency in the southwestern coastal city of Guayaquil after an explosion in a busy neighborhood left five dead and 17 injured, which the government blamed on organized crime.
“Due to the criminal events of the last few hours, I have declared a state of emergency in the city of Guayaquil,” Lasso wrote on his Twitter account.
“All public forces will be deployed to restore control of the city. We will not allow organized crime to try to rule the country,” he added.
The explosion, whose causes have not yet been determined by police, occurred early Sunday morning in the Cristo del Consuelo neighborhood, a crowded section of Guayaquil, and also destroyed eight homes and two cars, according to Ecuador’s National Risk Management Service.
According to initial information, two people on a motorcycle entered the area and threw a bag believed to contain the explosives in front of a dining hall.
In a joint press conference with other authorities and law enforcement agencies, Interior Minister Patricio Carrillo stated that it was a “terrorist act” and expressed solidarity with the victims’ families.
Carrillo stated that the explosion generated a shock wave of 50 to 70 meters, after which three people died on the spot, and the other two died in a hospital in Guayaquil.
“Of the 17 injured, two are in critical condition. The other 15 are already ambulatory,” he added.
Elite forces of the Ecuadorian police and the fight against transnational crime are investigating whether the incident is linked to other incidents that took place over the weekend in Guayaquil, where authorities say three tons of drugs were seized, and people were killed.