Ecuador’s new president grappled Tuesday with a security nightmare as gangsters held four police officers hostage after he declared a state of emergency in response to a drug kingpin’s escape from prison.
President Daniel Noboa, who is only 36, was elected in October on a pledge to fight rampant drug-related crime and violence in this South American country that has a key intermediary role in the US- and European-bound cocaine trade.
Noboa declared a 60-day state of emergency throughout the country on Monday, including in Ecuador’s notoriously violent prisons, and imposed a nighttime curfew.
He acted after a powerful gang leader, Jose Adolfo Macias, known as “Fito,” escaped from prison.
Overnight Monday into Tuesday officials announced that four police officers had been kidnapped — three in the coastal city of Machala and one in Quito.
Three people driving a vehicle without…
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