Laso declared a state of emergency in the provinces of Manabi and Los Rios and in the city of Duran near Guayaquil. He shot him dead Sunday.
It also comes on the back Riots over the weekend In the Penitenciaria del Litoral prison, in Guayaquil, involving gang clashes within the prison.
Laso has repeatedly resorted to declaring a state of emergency as Ecuador grapples with prison riots and waves of violence across the country.
“We cannot deny that organized crime has permeated the state, political organizations and society itself, it is a problem that has been brewing for more than a decade,” Laso said after a security cabinet meeting.
The government said the state of emergency will last for 60 days in the governorates, while the curfew will vary during that period.
Laso said the murder of the mayor of Manta is under investigation.
Sunday’s riots killed at least six prisoners and injured 11 others, according to the Syrian Prisons Authority.
Prisoners also took 96 guards hostage in the prisons of Cotopaxi, Azuay, Canar, El Oro and Napo, and are continuing the hunger strike that began Sunday in 13 Ecuadorian prisons, without revealing the reasons for the strikes.
The prison system in the South American country has had structural problems for decades, but prison violence has been on the rise since then 2021At least 400 people were killed in repeated confrontations that raised the concern of the United Nations and the United Arab Emirates Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.
(Reporting by Alexandra Valencia; Writing by Karolina Polis; Editing by Sonali Paul)
