Since taking office in November 2023, Ecuador’s president Daniel Noboa has repeatedly declared states of emergency as part of his campaign against organized crime groups, which have turned Ecuador into one of the most violent nations in Latin America, with a homicide rate of 54 per 100,000 inhabitants in 2025, according to official data.

In response to rising insecurity, Noboa declared an “internal armed conflict” in 2024, allowing the military to be deployed on the streets. The move has drawn criticism from human rights organizations, which have raised concerns over alleged abuses by security forces.

Through a decree issued on Thursday, the president extended the state of emergency in several coastal provinces — Guayas, Manabí, Esmeraldas, Santa Elena, and El Oro — key transit routes along the Pacific where around 70% of cocaine shipments from Colombia and Peru pass through.

The measure also applies to nine provinces in total, including Pichincha, home to the capital Quito, as well as four additional areas where violence remains concentrated.

Under the decree, the government has suspended certain constitutional rights, including the inviolability of the home and private correspondence.

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Earlier this week, a nighttime curfew imposed in Guayas, Los Ríos, Santo Domingo de los Tsáchilas, and El Oro came to an end. The curfew had been part of a broader offensive against organized crime, supported by United States.

A major winter storm is threatening to blanket large portions of the United States with a dangerous mix of freezing rain and heavy snowfall, potentially creating “catastrophic” conditions across areas home to nearly 160 million people.

Several U.S. states have declared a state of emergency as the Arctic blast advances from the California coast across much of the continental United States, affecting central regions, including the Rocky Mountains and the Great Plains, according to forecasts.

The National Weather Service warned the storm could cause a “catastrophic accumulation of ice,” leading to prolonged power outages, widespread tree damage, and extremely dangerous or impassable travel conditions.

Meteorologist Ryan Maue cautioned that “the next 10 days of winter will be the worst in 40 years in the United States.”
“Think about where you can go, what you can do, and who may need even more help to survive the coming week. This is not an exaggeration or a joke,” Maue said.

He urged residents to prepare for temperatures dropping below -18°C (0°F).

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More than 1,500 weekend flights had already been canceled, according to flight tracker FlightAware, including numerous flights in Texas.

In the southern state, many residents still recall the devastation caused by a similar storm in February 2021, which resulted in more than 200 deaths linked to hypothermia, carbon monoxide poisoning, and traffic accidents.

Texas authorities have assured the public that the power grid, which suffered widespread failures during that storm and left millions without electricity, is better prepared to withstand the extreme weather this time.

Ana García, the wife of former Honduran president Juan Orlando Hernández, who was pardoned on Monday by U.S. President Donald Trump after being sentenced in 2024 to 45 years in prison on drug trafficking and firearms charges, told EFE on Wednesday that the family has not yet decided whether he will return to Honduras.

“We have not made any decision about that yet. Everything is still very recent, and as a family we are going to take the time to reflect carefully and make wise decisions thinking about the well-being of Juan Orlando, our children, and all our families,” García said at her residence in Tegucigalpa.

García wore around her neck her husband’s wedding ring, which she has kept since Hernández was held at a special police detention facility known as the ‘Cobras’ on the day of his arrest, February 15, 2022.

“We are still deciding many things. He has just been released, it has not even been 48 hours since he got out. So we are taking things calmly,” she reiterated.

She also explained that since she does not have a U.S. visa — revoked after her husband was requested for extradition following the end of his presidency in January 2022 — she has not been able to see him, but said she is “awaiting some form of communication from the United States” in order to do so.

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García declined to reveal where in the United States her husband is currently located, although she stressed that she is confident she will have an opportunity to reunite with him.