In two and a half years, Ecuador has spent 846 days below a state of emergency, virtually the identical period of time that Daniel Noboa has been in energy. Throughout this era, the president has restricted folks’s free motion for 272 days, decreeing seven curfews, which the federal government has maintained as its foremost technique for combating violence. For the authorities, the supposed success of the initiative is measured by the variety of folks arrested: through the 15 days of the curfew final March, 1,283 folks had been apprehended for violating the measure, and homicides had been lowered by virtually 30% through the early morning hours.
Even so, the nation is experiencing its seventh curfew since this authorities took workplace, and though authorities spokespeople announce the measures upfront, some persons are solely now discovering out that their day by day routine will likely be disrupted as soon as once more. Like Vanesa Cervantes.
Cervantes lives in one among Guayaquil’s most dangerous neighborhoods, on the banks of the Salado Estuary. There, some instances of the 12 months it feels extra like a battle zone. Gunfire erupts at any hour, robberies are fixed, and the stress appears limitless, by no means permitting anybody to let their guard down. For her, life within the neighborhood boils all the way down to a single rule: see nobody, hear nobody, communicate to nobody. It’s a continuing state of tension. Curfews, she says, haven’t introduced any extra safety. She watches her neighbors — those that depart for work early within the morning — lock themselves inside earlier than dusk, however she by no means sees army or police patrols on the streets.
For Cervantes, the curfew is already the brand new regular, regardless that it disrupts her day by day routine. “Buses are working virtually an hour late, and you need to struggle for a seat to get on as a result of everyone seems to be late for work,” she explains. She additionally has to incur surprising taxi bills to get to work on time.
Within the 9 provinces and 4 cities the place the most recent curfew is in impact, life has modified dramatically. Public transportation begins working later, and that change alone has altered folks’s day by day routines. In Quito, for instance, colleges have needed to regulate their begin instances. Companies that used to remain open late now need to pack every part up effectively upfront, as a result of they need to issue within the time it takes workers to get dwelling. The identical is true for cinemas, theaters, eating places, and leisure venues. Some occasions have even needed to be canceled for worry of low attendance.
Nighttime commerce, logistics providers, and freight transport have additionally been immediately impacted by the curfew between 11:00 p.m. and 5:00 a.m. This coincides exactly with their working hours. In the course of the day, vans are prohibited from circulating in city areas in most cities. For the reason that measure was applied, many truckers touring to Pichincha — the one Andean province below curfew — are stranded on the border and compelled to sleep of their trailers, uncovered to the risks of the street. Every little thing involves a standstill after which accelerates inside the 18 hours throughout which motion is permitted in Ecuador.
Cervantes has discovered to regulate her routine to this new regular: leaving work and returning to confinement. She has already accepted that in Guayaquil — one of the most dangerous cities in the world — one should stay with violence. Sociologist Natalia Sierra believes that this “normalization” is a product of the inhabitants’s exhaustion, not solely as a result of violence of felony teams, but additionally on account of state violence. “It has to do with an unconscious technique of resistance; if we don’t resist, if we consciously stay with this stress of violence, it will possibly result in a psychiatric disaster,” the knowledgeable believes.
This self-protection routine is clear in small, automated gestures like strolling with a handbag or backpack pressed towards the chest, avoiding speaking on the cellphone on the street, and being cautious of anybody subsequent to you, anybody staring an excessive amount of, or anybody using a bike. Cervantes says that, over time, she has even discovered to establish patterns in felony conduct. For instance, on the fifteenth and thirtieth of every month, when firms pay salaries, nobody carries valuables. “Thieves know that these are the times when these of us who work obtain our paychecks, so they’re the worst days to be on the road or to get on a bus with cash or your cellphone,” she explains. She leaves every part at dwelling, carrying solely a lightweight backpack with a t-shirt or an empty pockets, simply to present the impression that she has one thing, as a result of even having nothing handy over may cause criminals to develop into agitated and violent.
“We’ve normalized a continuing state of vigilance,” Sierra says. “The anxiousness of strolling whereas trying behind us, consistently checking if somebody is following us, touching our luggage to verify they’re nonetheless there. We stay attentive to each motion. And when that turns into commonplace, what actually turns into normalized is violence.”
Within the final 5 years, violence in Ecuador has elevated sharply. The nation went from having one of many lowest murder charges in Latin America to exceeding 50 murders per 100,000 inhabitants in 2025, essentially the most violent 12 months in its historical past.
This surge coincides with a regional context by which insecurity and violence are pressuring Latin American governments to implement harsher measures to fight organized crime. On the similar time, Washington’s anti-drug policy has discovered a strategic ally within the Noboa administration. Among the many most controversial joint operations are the air and maritime assaults in Ecuadorian waters.
To this point in 2026, fishermen from three boats have reported being bombed by drones and captured by “gringos.” Thirty-eight fishermen survived the assaults, whereas eight stay lacking. The Ecuadorian authorities has not denied that the US is conducting operations in Ecuadorian waters, however neither has it confirmed the bombings.
In line with Sierra, Ecuador lacks a nationwide plan outlining the kind of safety it seeks. She generally even believes the federal government doesn’t need to fight the violence or the worry it instills within the inhabitants — a worry that retains folks “nonetheless,” she asserts. “Concern is a software of management. It mobilizes folks to the place these in energy need them to go, to hold out initiatives that serve their pursuits. As a result of worry paralyzes, and a part of that’s the normalization of violence.”
Cervantes, however, is not within the outcomes of the seventh curfew imposed in recent times. Nor does she imagine that this time it can carry again the peace she as soon as had. Particularly since, within the first week because the measure started, not a single day has handed with out the silence of confinement being abruptly damaged in a number of Guayaquil neighborhoods by gunfire after 5:00 a.m., simply when the curfew is lifted. The routine of worry and vigilance by no means rests.
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