By Alexandra Valencia
QUITO (Reuters) -Ecuador’s armed forces will continue carrying out joint anti-crime operations with the police under a presidential decree announced at midnight on Monday, the government said.
The operations were first allowed under a 90-day state of emergency declared in January by President Daniel Noboa and meant to stem a wave of crime and violence blamed on drug-trafficking gangs.
Military operations against organized crime, the joint operations with the police and increased security at prisons will continue under the decree, the government said in a statement posted on social media overnight.
“These decisions will allow the government of new Ecuador, with the support of the forces of order, to continue deploying priority actions to protect citizen security and well-being,” the statement said.
Noboa, 36, took power in November and has been touting his “Phoenix Plan” to combat crime and violence, which has included the murders of public officials and an explosion of unrest in January, when gunmen stormed a live television broadcast and scores of prison staff were taken hostage.
Noboa has called the violence a war, arguing it requires extraordinary measures to fight.
The joint security forces carried out 272,000 operations during the state of emergency, which began on Jan. 9, the defense ministry said in its own statement. The operations have included the confiscation of 77,500 kilos of illegal substances, 140,300 gallons of fuel, weapons and munitions and making high-level arrests.
(Reporting by Alexandra Valencia in QuitoWriting by Julia Symmes CobbEditing by Matthew Lewis)
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