The Ecuadorean government has deployed more than 75,000 police officers and soldiers to four of the country's most violence-wracked provinces, the interior minister says.
The authorities have also declared a night-time curfew in these areas as part of a "new phase" in their "war" on criminal gangs.
Since coming to office in November 2023, President Daniel Noboa has tried to quell drug-related violence but nevertheless Ecuador registered a record murder rate in 2025.
Noboa has also joined a US-led alliance of 17 countries aimed at fighting criminal cartels in the Western Hemisphere.
"We're at war," Ecuadorean Interior Minister John Reimberg told residents of the provinces of El Oro, Guayas, Los Ríos and Santo Domingo de los Tsáchilas.
