Ecuador’s President Daniel Noboa declared on Wednesday that the country was in a “state of war” after days of violence by members of criminal gangs he estimated to number “more than 20,000” and whom he described as “terrorists”, AFP reported. .

In response to government pressure, drug-trafficking gangs have launched a brutal offensive since the start of the week that has left at least ten people dead.

More than a hundred security guards were taken hostage by inmates, drug lords managed to escape, and several journalists were intimidated live.

“We are at war and we cannot give in to these terrorist groups,” Daniel Noboa said on Radio Canela after he declared a state of “internal armed conflict” in the country on Tuesday.

Under the measure, he ordered the military to “neutralize” powerful criminal groups linked to drug cartels in Mexico and Colombia.

The crisis was triggered by the escape on Sunday of Adolfo Macias, alias “Fito”, the head of the country’s main criminal organization, Los Choneros, who was being held in a maximum security prison in Guayaquil (southwest).

“We are fighting for national peace, we are also fighting against terrorist groups that currently have more than 20,000 members,” added Daniel Noboa, 36, who was elected in November on a promise to restore security in the country.

“We will not give up,” assured the youngest president in the country’s history.

A state of emergency in Ecuador

On Monday, he declared a 60-day state of emergency across the country, including in prisons that have become operational centers for drug traffickers.

Ecuador’s president has angered drug traffickers by announcing the construction of maximum-security prisons in the style of his Salvadoran counterpart, Nayib Bukele, in his “war” against criminal gangs.

“This government is taking the necessary measures that no one wanted to take in recent years,” insisted Daniel Noboa, quoted by AFP (Agerpres).