Ecuador’s President orders Armed Forces to carry out immediate operations against terrorism

The President of Ecuador, Guillermo Lasso, ordered yesterday, Wednesday, through an executive decree, the Armed Forces to carry out immediate operations throughout the country to confront and counteract “terrorist” individuals and organizations, informed the Presidency.

The President ordered “to order the Joint Command of the Armed Forces to initiate, immediately, the corresponding actions to repress the terrorist threat, with all the means at its disposal, in coordination with the National Police”, according to the decree issued by the General Secretariat of Communication.

In the document, Lasso specified that the military forces must execute these actions in compliance with their mission to defend sovereignty and territorial integrity and to protect the citizens’ rights, liberties, and guarantees, given the wave of insecurity that the Andean country is experiencing.

Military actions shall be carried out by international instruments, as well as the provisions of the Constitution and the internal legal system of the Ecuadorian State.

The decree also orders the National Service of Integral Attention to Adults Deprived of Liberty and Adolescent Offenders (SNAI) to “take strict security measures for military and police personnel who, as a result of military and police anti-terrorist operations, are subjected to criminal judicial proceedings, to guarantee their integrity in detention centers”.

The Ministry of Economy will allocate the necessary resources to meet the requirements of the Armed Forces and the National Police within the framework of compliance with the decree’s provisions.

Likewise, all the functions of the State are urged to support, in a coordinated manner, the fight against terrorism, respecting the independence of powers.

The President ordered these measures in compliance with a resolution issued last April 27 by the Council of Public and State Security (Cosepe), the highest advisory body of the Government, which declared terrorism as a “threat” to the State and recommended the President to issue a decree establishing “coercive, urgent and effective measures that include the use of lethal weapons to combat this serious threat that affects the Ecuadorian people”.

Ecuador is experiencing an escalation of insecurity which the Government attributes to the actions of criminal gangs linked to drug trafficking, which in recent months have provoked violent acts such as bombings, armed attacks, extortion, kidnappings, murders, and other crimes.

These events, which the Government describes as “terrorist”, have caused social alarm and generated fear in the population.