According to Loffredo, this will be carried out through the more in-depth intervention of the security bloc, composed of the Armed Forces and the National Police, whose operations have already begun in the coastal provinces, the most conflictive in this South American nation.

On the part of the Ministry of the Interior, there was also talk of the construction of Intermediate Barracks, currently Community Police Units (UPC), since these centers are insufficient for the level of crime that currently exists, said the Minister of Defense at the conclusion of the meeting of the security cabinet.

Likewise, he revealed that the meeting was chaired by President Daniel Noboa and took place this Thursday morning in the Daule municipality, province of Guayas.

The Daule canton suffers attacks, extortions and other crimes committed mostly by criminal gangs associated with drug trafficking, despite military and police operations.

Official data indicate that Ecuador will close 2023 with a sad record of more than seven thousand violent deaths per 100 thousand inhabitants, a figure that places it among the most dangerous countries in Latin America and the world.

ef/npg/nta