Ecuador Imposes New Curfew in Four Coastal Provinces

A New Curfew for Ecuador’s Coast

Ecuador will impose a nighttime curfew across four provinces starting Thursday, September 17. Interior Minister John Reimberg announced the measure on September 11, according to Primicias and Infobae.

The curfew runs from midnight to 5 a.m. daily through September 30. It covers Guayas, Manabí, Los Ríos and El Oro, four provinces along Ecuador’s Pacific coast.

Which Provinces, What Hours

Guayas is home to Guayaquil, Ecuador’s largest city and a hub of drug-trafficking violence. Manabí, Los Ríos and El Oro have also seen recurring gang activity this year.

During curfew hours, only a short list of people may circulate. That includes healthcare workers, emergency responders, and prosecutors or lawyers attending urgent hearings.

Journalists may also move during the curfew, but only when accompanied by security forces. Everyone else must stay off the streets until 5 a.m.

No Exceptions This Time

Reimberg said the government will not issue salvoconductos this time around. Those special passes had let residents bypass earlier curfews under limited conditions.

He told Primicias there would be “no type of safe-conduct” for this round of restrictions. That marks a tougher line than Ecuador’s earlier curfews this year.

Reimberg said the curfew targets groups trying to “sow fear and challenge the authority of the State.”

He asked residents for patience despite the disruption. Past curfews this year have drawn similar appeals from Ecuadorian officials.

Part of a Broader Security Offensive

This is Ecuador’s third curfew of 2026. President Daniel Noboa’s government imposed similar nighttime restrictions in March and again in April.

Each earlier curfew followed roughly the same pattern. A spike in gang violence led to a presidential decree, then a temporary nighttime lockdown in the affected province.

Noboa has made the anti-crime crackdown a central plank of his presidency. He took office in late 2023 promising to confront Ecuador’s cartels directly.

Why Ecuador Keeps Declaring Curfews

Ecuador’s homicide rate hit 50.9 per 100,000 people in 2025, according to InsightCrime’s annual round-up. That was a 31 percent jump from 2024 and a record high for the country.

InsightCrime linked the surge to fighting between the Choneros gang and its rival, Los Lobos. The clashes escalated after the 2025 arrest of Choneros leader Adolfo Macías Villamar, known as “Fito.”

Prison riots added to the toll last year. InsightCrime counted at least 75 deaths across four separate riots inside Ecuadorian prisons in 2025.

The State of Exception Behind It

The new curfew sits inside a wider state of exception that Noboa renewed on August 14, 2026. That decree covers ten provinces and three cantons, according to Infobae.

A state of exception lets Ecuador’s government deploy the armed forces alongside police. It can also suspend some constitutional rights for a limited period.

The curfew itself needs no separate legal basis once a state of exception is active. It is simply one tool available to security forces during the emergency.

A Tense Month for Noboa’s Government

The curfew announcement came one day after Noboa dismissed his air force commander. Lieutenant General Mauricio Xavier Salazar Machuca was removed on September 10 via Executive Decree 496, Rio Times reported.

Salazar had reportedly sought written legal guidelines for United States military flights at Ecuador’s Taura air base. The government gave no public reason for his removal.

The two events are not officially connected. Together, they show a government moving fast on security and defense matters this month.

Economic Backdrop

The security crackdown unfolds against a steadier economic picture. Ecuador’s central bank raised its 2026 growth forecast to 2.5 percent in April, up from earlier estimates.

The International Monetary Fund projected similar growth of about 2.0 percent for the year in a March estimate. Dollarization has kept inflation below 3 percent, well under the regional average.

What Happens Next

The curfew is due to lift on September 30, unless officials extend it again. Ecuador’s earlier 2026 curfews were sometimes renewed once their initial deadlines passed.

Security forces plan to increase patrols in Guayaquil and the three other provinces during restricted hours. Tourism and nightlife businesses are likely to feel the sharpest impact.

Residents and rights groups will also watch how strictly the no-exemptions rule gets enforced. Ecuadorian courts have previously reviewed curfew measures for their scope and duration.

Ecuador’s earlier 2026 curfews hit at least 120,000 businesses, Expreso reported in May, citing economist Juan Sebastián Naranjo. He estimated losses of US$16 million to US$32 million from those restrictions.

Bars and discos lost up to 80 percent of sales on curfew days, Naranjo found. Container and logistics operations also reported sales declines of up to 40 percent.

Background: Ecuador Has Imposed a Nighttime Curfew Across Four Coastal Provinces.

Background: Ecuador’s Military: Noboa Dismisses Air Force Commander.

More: Latin America news in English, every day from The Rio Times.

This article was produced by The Rio Times’ automated newsroom system. How we use AI · Report an error