Gang leader’s prison break puts restive Ecuador on high alert

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Ecuador’s President Daniel Noboa on Monday declared a state of emergency for the South American nation after a notorious gang leader escaped from prison, heightening security fears as authorities struggle to control the bloodshed of a bloody criminal turf war.

José Adolfo Macías Villamar, leader of the feared Los Choneros drug cartel better known by his alias “Fito,” escaped from prison in the coastal city of Guayaquil on Sunday, according to authorities.

The state of emergency will last for 60 days and imposes a nightly curfew from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m., Noboa said Monday, adding it grants security forces “all the political and legal support for their actions.”

Noboa, the son of a banana tycoon, became president in November following an election driven by concerns over rising violence and a worsening security situation in the Latin American nation just months after the high-profile assassination of another presidential candidate, Fernando Villavicencio.

On Monday, Noboa said he had authorized security forces to retake control of Ecuador’s restive prison system, which he said, “has been lost in recent years.”

Security forces have struggled to confront the gangs inside overcrowded prisons, where inmates often take control of branches of the penitentiaries and run criminal networks from behind bars, according to authorities.

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