Britons planning to visit Ecuador have been issued an urgent travel warning after the country declared a fresh state of emergency.
Dramatic measures have seen several districts and parishes hit with curfew restrictions between the hours of 10pm and 5am. The decree was introduced on October 3 and will remain in place “until further notice”.
Ecuador is a popular holiday destination and sees tourists flock for the Galápagos Islands and Amazon Rainforest. But the nation is currently battling fearsome drugs gangs, with the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) advising visitors to check the latest travel guidance before embarking on a trip.
The UK currently urges against all but essential travel to large parts of western Ecuador. People are also being warned their insurance could be invalidated if they travel against the advice.
The 60-day state of emergency was declared due to internal disturbance and armed violence, the foreign office said. It allows the military and police to seize assets, conduct inspections and enter private properties without permission.
There are also restrictions on freedoms of “association and assembly”, with armed forces permitted to break up gatherings in public spaces. There are also ongoing power outages across the nation with rationing even taking place in several areas.
President Daniel Noboa, who is just 36, has made it his mission to take on organised crime gangs. It follows a surge of violence in the worst-impacted areas since an internal armed conflict was declared in January.
A state of emergency has been in place numerous times this year and previously extended. The US has also warned its citizens.
The US Embassy and Consulate in Ecuador said: “The state of emergency was declared in response to an increase in violence, crimes and presence of organised criminal groups. [It] is intended to facilitate the work of the armed forces and national police.
“The current state of emergency provides for the suspension of the right to inviolability of home and correspondence as well as the right to freedom of assembly in the territories listed above.”
