On Wednesday, the president arrived in the coastal city of Duran, in the province of Guayas, escorted by military tanks, as part of an intervention that seeks to mitigate insecurity there.

In that territory, criminal gangs such as the Chone Killers and the Latin Kings divide up the neighborhoods, and impose rules of conduct and criminal governance, the digital portal Primicias reported.

According to figures from the Ministry of Economic and Social Inclusion (MIES), some 9,000 families live in extreme poverty in Durán.

The mayor of the city, Luis Chonillo, said that this territory is just the tip of the iceberg and hopes “that these decisions are accompanied not only by actions to show the media and networks, but also with clear public policies that delve the problem at its root and seek to recover the social network”.

Last week, Ecuador completed six months of the declaration of internal armed conflict, a measure with which Noboa decided to confront organized crime.

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