Ecuador's Army Chief Designates Criminal Groups Operating in Country as 'Military Target'

Ecuadorian Armed Forces Joint Command chief RADM Jaime Vela Eraso on Tuesday, following a security council meeting, declared 22 criminal groups operating in the country as a "military target" and said there would be no negotiations with them.

"Daniel Noboa, the president of the republic, has set a very clear mission for us in his decree No. 111. From now on, every terrorist group identified in the above-mentioned decree becomes a military target. The present and future of our country are at stake, and no act of terrorism will make us surrender. We are not going to retreat or negotiate," the army chief said in a video address posted by the Ecuadorian presidency on X.

The country's police said on X that at least ten people, including two police officers, have been killed in unrest in the Ecuadorian city of Guayaquil and the neighboring town of Nobol.