Ecuador Declares National Emergency as Cartel Violence Spirals Out of Control
At least 42 killed in 48 hours as Los Lobos and Los Chapitres wage open war across Guayaquil and Quito. President Noboa calls for international assistance.
QUITO — Ecuador’s government declared a national state of emergency Monday after coordinated cartel attacks killed at least 42 people in a 48-hour period, shattering any illusions that President Daniel Noboa’s year-long anti-narcotics campaign had broken the back of the country’s criminal underworld.
The violence — concentrated in Guayaquil, Quito, and the port city of Esmeraldas — was the bloodiest sustained offensive since Noboa launched Operation Iron Fist in early 2025.Authorities say the attacks are retaliation for last week’s capture of five mid-level Los Lobos commanders in a joint operation with U.S. DEA agents.
KEY FACTS:
• At least 42 dead, 67 wounded across 3 cities in 48 hours
• Los Lobos and Los Chapitres blamed for coordinated bombings and shootings
• 18 police stations attacked; national police on high alert
• Noboa requests U.S. military assistance under existing defense treaty
• U.S. State Department issues “do not travel” advisory for Guayas province
“This is not random violence — this is a coordinated declaration of war against the state,” Noboa said in an address from the Carrión presidential palace. “Ecuador will not negotiate with terrorists. We are requesting immediate assistance from our allies.”
Cartels Turn Guerrilla
The scale and sophistication of the attacks stunned even veteran security analysts. In Guayaquil, the country’s largest city and commercial capital, gunmen launched near-simultaneous assaults on three police precincts, a municipal courthouse, and a power substation that left a swath of the city without electricity for 14 hours. In Quito, car bombs — a tactic not previously seen in Ecuador — were detonated outside the Attorney General’s office and a military barracks on the city’s southern edge.
Authorities identified the perpetrators as belonging to Los Lobos, the country’s dominant fentanyl-trafficking syndode, and its rival Los Chapitres, which controls much of the Pacific coastline’s cocaine. A joint communique from both groups, verified by Ecuador’s interior ministry, called the offensive “Operation Payment Due” and threatened further attacks on “any government building that houses those who betrayed the people to the Americans.”
Interior Minister Monica Manya confirmed that 18 police stations had come under fire across the two cities, and that at least 12 officers were among the dead. “This is a level of coordination we have not seen before in Ecuador,” she told reporters. “They are no longer simply trafficking — they are waging a guerrilla war.”
U.S. Military Support Requested
Noboa’s government formally requested U.S. military assistance Sunday night under the 1999 U.S.-Ecuador Defense Cooperation agreement, specifically invoking provisions allowing for intelligence sharing, logistics support, and temporary deployment of U.S. counter-narcotics personnel. The request, first reported by Reuters, was confirmed by Ecuador’s defense ministry early Monday.
A State Department spokesperson said the U.S. was “reviewing the request with urgency” but declined to specify what form assistance might take. The Pentagon has maintained a small but consistent counter-narcotics advisory presence in Ecuador since 2022, focused on targeting maritime smuggling routes along the Pacific coast.
The U.S. ambassador to Ecuador, John D. Duran, met with Noboa at the presidential palace Monday morning and pledged “unwavering support” in a statement posted to social media. Several U.S. officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, told that Pentagon planners were actively considering expanding surveillance drone operations over Ecuador’s coastal waters and potentially deploying a small Joint Task Force to coordinate with Ecuadorian forces.
Civilian Toll Rising
The human cost continued to mount Monday as hospitals in Guayaquil reported being overwhelmed. The Alfredo Bryce pediatric hospital received 19 gunshot wound cases overnight — a number its director called “completely unprecedented.” Three schools in the city’s Bastión Popular neighborhood were hit by stray fire, forcing closures. The Guayaquil school year has been severely disrupted for months — many institutions have been operating in shifts due to repeated threats.
President Noboa announced a 30-day curfew in Guayas and Pichincha provinces, the two hardest-hit areas, and said all public schools would close for at least two weeks. He also suspended constitutional habeas corpus for individuals detained in connection with organized crime activities, a move critics say risks abuse but the government argues is necessary to move quickly against suspects.
The attacks are a severe setback for Noboa, who has staked his presidency on restoring security and who was preparing to formally announce his candidacy for the August presidential election. His approval ratings, which had climbed to 58 percent on the strength of early anti-cartel successes, are likely to face renewed pressure as the death toll continues to rise.
Regional reaction was swift. Colombian President Gustavo Petro called the attacks “a spillover of the narco-war that has devastated our own country” and offered intelligence cooperation. Brazilian President Lula da Silva condemned “all forms of terrorist violence” while calling for restraint. Mexico’s foreign ministry issued a statement saying it was “closely monitoring the situation.”
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) said it was in contact with Quito and preparing a technical assistance package focused on port security and maritime interdiction — a nod to the fact that the bulk of Ecuador’s cartel output flows through the ports of Guayaquil and Esmeraldas, which remain chronically understaffed and underprotected.
Noboa is expected to address the nation again Monday evening local time. The national assembly is scheduled to convene an emergency session Tuesday.