International

Noboa decrees a new state of emergency in Ecuador due to the serious energy crisis

The president of Ecuador, Daniel Noboa, again decreed a new state of emergency at the national level for 60 days, this time because of the serious energy crisis that the country is going through, with blackouts of up to eight hours during to not being able to meet the national demand for electricity.

Through a decree, Noboa ordered “the mobilization and intervention of the National Police and the Armed Forces throughout the national territory, duly coordinated, to guarantee the security of critical energy infrastructure facilities to prevent sabotage, terrorist attacks or other threats that may affect their operation.”

Since last Sunday Ecuador has suffered daily blackouts in different areas of up to eight hours of duration, since the Mazar reservoir, the second largest in the country, has been left without the sufficient water level, which allows the operation of a complex of three hydroelectric plants with a power of 1,757 megawatts, equivalent to about a third of national demand.

Added to this is the cut in the supply of electricity from Colombia, which also faces a situation of great drought that does not allow it to generate surplus electricity to export to Ecuador.

This new state of emergency occurs on the eve of the referendum called by Noboa for this Sunday where it seeks to carry out with popular support a series of reforms in the field of security, justice, investments and employment.

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It also arrives less than three weeks after the previous state of emergency ended, issued at the beginning of January to address the swell of violence of organized crime gangs, after a series of attacks and violent actions that included the taking of the TC Television channel by a group of armed men during a live broadcast.

The previous state of emergency was accompanied by the declaration of ‘internal armed conflict’, the same that remains until now and that serves the Ecuadorian Government to consider twenty-two criminal gangs as terrorist groups and non-state belligerent actors that can be neutralized by the Armed Forces.

Thus, in the week of the referendum, the blackouts returned to Ecuador, a situation that Ecuadorians had already experienced at the end of last year due to another similar situation of drought in the main hydroelectric plants and a fall in Colombia’s supply.

On that occasion the power cuts were up to four hours, half that at the current time that Noboa attributed to an alleged sabotage, to the point that his administration filed a complaint against twenty-two people for allegedly hiding information and not giving the voice of alert in advance.

Among the people who are part of the presidential accusation is the former Minister of Energy and Mines Andrea Arrobo, to whom Noboa asked for her resignation in a public event on Tuesday, after last Friday she had ruled out the return of blackouts to Ecuador in the short term.

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Even the Secretary of Communication of the Presidency, Roberto Izurieta, went so far as to affirm on Thursday that they have suspicions that the Mazar reservoir was deliberately emptied, something that was denied by the Corporación Eléctrica del Ecuador (Celec), which operates the reservoir.

According to the data of this company, the level of the reservoir, located in the southern Andean province of Azuay, whose capital is Cuenca, has been gradually decreasing since the beginning of this year, and apparently it has not rained enough in that time for it to be replenished.

The prolonged power cuts forced the Government to decree for this Thursday and Friday the suspension of the working day and school classes, although many private businesses continued to operate normally, since in Ecuador only three out of ten people of working age have a formal job.

International

Peruvian presidential candidate Napoleón Becerra dies in campaign road accident

Presidential candidate Napoleón Becerra, representing the Partido de los Trabajadores y Emprendedores (PTE) in Peru, died in a traffic accident while traveling to a campaign event, local authorities confirmed Sunday.

Becerra, who also served as president of the centrist political party, ranked among the lowest in opinion polls in a crowded field of more than 30 candidates competing in the presidential election scheduled for April 12.

Recent surveys place Rafael López Aliaga at the top of voter preferences.

The accident occurred near the town of Ayacucho, in southern Peru, when the vehicle carrying the candidate overturned for reasons that remain under investigation.

“The candidate Becerra has died,” Balvin Huamani, mayor of the district of Pilpichaca, told RPP radio.

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According to Huamani, he personally transported the 61-year-old candidate to a local health center, where doctors confirmed his death.

The Jurado Nacional de Elecciones (JNE) expressed condolences over Becerra’s passing and wished a speedy recovery to the three people who were traveling with him and were injured in the crash.

International

Noboa intensifies anti-cartel crackdown as violence persists in Ecuador

A close ally of Washington, Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa has pursued a hardline security strategy against cocaine cartels for more than two years, yet homicide, disappearance and extortion rates remain high across the country.

Between Sunday night and the morning of March 31, Ecuador’s armed forces will launch a “very strong offensive” with “advisory support” from the United States, Interior Minister John Reimberg announced Tuesday.

The government has kept details of the operation confidential and has not confirmed whether U.S. troops will be deployed on Ecuadorian soil, as has occurred at times during Noboa’s administration.

As part of the security measures, residents in the coastal provinces of Guayas, Los Ríos, Santo Domingo de los Tsáchilas, and El Oro will be subject to a nightly curfew from 11:00 p.m. to 5:00 a.m. local time for the next two weeks.

“We are in a war,” Reimberg said, urging citizens to remain indoors. “Do not take risks. Stay home and allow the security forces and our allies to do the work that must be done.”

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Although Ecuador does not produce cocaine, it has become a major departure point for drugs heading to the United States. Meanwhile, the violence associated with trafficking has increasingly affected the local population.

Bordering the world’s largest cocaine producers, Colombia and Peru, Ecuador has gone from being considered a relatively peaceful country to recording one of the highest homicide rates in Latin America—52 killings per 100,000 inhabitants—according to the **Observatory of Organized Crime.

International

Peruvian presidential candidate proposes death penalty amid crime surge

Peru is facing an unprecedented surge in crime ahead of its presidential election scheduled for April 12, with violence fueled by extortion networks and a wave of contract killings linked to organized crime.

Police data show that 2,200 homicides tied to organized crime were recorded in 2025, while extortion complaints increased by 19%, underscoring the growing security crisis in the South American nation.

Amid this backdrop, presidential candidate Álvarez has proposed reinstating the death penalty if elected, arguing that extreme measures are needed to curb the violence.

To implement the proposal, Álvarez said Peru would withdraw from the American Convention on Human Rights—also known as the Pact of San José—which the country signed in 1978. The agreement prevents member states that have abolished capital punishment from reinstating it.

Currently, Peruvian law only allows the death penalty in cases of treason during wartime.

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“We have to leave the Pact of San José and apply the death penalty in Peru because those miserable criminals don’t deserve to live,” Álvarez told AFP during a campaign stop at a market in Callao, the port city neighboring Lima.

“An iron fist against those criminals,” he added, proposing to declare hitmen as military targets.

During the campaign event, Álvarez walked through stalls selling vegetables, groceries, and fish, greeting vendors while musicians played cumbia music nearby.

The 62-year-old candidate, who spent more than four decades working in television as a comedian, is a newcomer to politics and is running for president under the País para Todos party.

Polls place him fifth in voter preference with nearly 4% support in a fragmented race featuring 36 candidates.