Ecuador Activates Night Curfew in Nine Provinces Through May 18

Ecuador has now lived under more than 835 days of state-of-exception rule. Decree 370 makes the country’s two biggest cities the latest test of whether nightly lockdowns can dent the homicide rate.

The Ecuador curfew took effect at 23:00 on Sunday, May 3, halting all civilian movement until 05:00 each morning across nine provinces and four cantons until May 18. The Rio Times, the Latin American financial news outlet, reports that the measure was authorised under Executive Decree 370, signed by President Daniel Noboa on April 28.

The provinces affected are Guayas, Manabí, Santa Elena, Los Ríos, El Oro, Pichincha, Santo Domingo de los Tsáchilas, Esmeraldas, and Sucumbíos. Four additional cantons — La Maná in Cotopaxi, Las Naves and Echeandía in Bolívar, and La Troncal in Cañar — are also covered.

What the Ecuador Curfew Restricts

Decree 370 suspends three rights during the affected hours: free movement, the inviolability of the home, and the inviolability of correspondence. The home-search suspension allows police and military forces to conduct immediate raids without standard warrants.

Only health-system personnel and uniformed security or emergency-response staff may move during curfew hours. The decree specifies that controls will be applied “rationally and proportionally,” with discretion for residents in genuine emergencies.

The Homicide Numbers Behind the Ecuador Curfew

Government data cited in Decree 370 record 2,509 homicides nationwide in the first four months of 2026. Guayas province alone accounts for 1,098 of those — 43.8 percent of the national total — earning it the government’s “epicenter of lethal violence” label.

Quito’s inclusion this time reflects a Government decree characterising the capital as a “critical scenario” where Los Lobos, Los Choneros, and Tiguerones organisations are fighting for trafficking corridors. The decree also extends the state of exception that has been in place across these jurisdictions since early April.

Ecuador Curfew and the Business Sector

The Guayas Chamber of Commerce reported that 73 percent of businesses with nighttime activity registered a 40 percent reduction in sales during the previous March curfew. Pure-night operations such as restaurants and entertainment venues recorded losses of 70 to 80 percent.

The Education Ministry adjusted nighttime school schedules in affected provinces on May 2, while universities and tertiary institutions retain autonomy. Public transit, particularly Guayaquil’s Metrovía and bus terminals, will close at 21:00 nightly throughout the period.

What the Ecuador Curfew Means for Latin America

The Noboa government has used nine separate curfews during its 27-month tenure, including responses to the September 2024 power crisis and the post-diesel-subsidy strike. The current Ecuador-Colombia tariff war — which raised security taxes on Colombian imports to 100 percent on May 1 — adds an economic stress layer to the security crackdown.

For regional trade flows, the combination of internal violence and external trade friction underlines Ecuador’s tightening risk profile. The country’s homicide rate has risen from 5 per 100,000 in 2017 to roughly 50 per 100,000 in 2025 despite escalating military deployments.

Whether the May 3-18 curfew dents that trajectory is the question Quito and Guayaquil residents are now living through. The decree’s effects will be measured against the national homicide series and the operations data that the Comando Conjunto reports each week.