Ecuador imposes overnight curfew across nine provinces under emergency decree

Overview

Updated May 31

Five years ago Ecuador had one of the lowest homicide rates in South America. On May 3, 2026, its second nationwide curfew of the year took effect under Executive Decree 370, covering nine of 24 provinces, including Quito and Guayaquil, through May 18.

Soldiers and police are authorized to clear streets between 11 p.m. and 5 a.m. Quito and Guayaquil together hold most of the country's population. The decree follows a four-province curfew in March that the government concedes did not break the criminal networks driving the violence.

Ecuador recorded 2,509 homicides in the first four months of 2026, with Guayas province responsible for nearly 44 percent of the deaths. Decree 370 expands a state-of-emergency framework President Daniel Noboa first invoked in January 2024, declaring an 'internal armed conflict' against gangs designated as terrorist organizations. The question is whether nightly movement restrictions and military deployments can disrupt the trafficking corridors and gang structures that have turned Ecuador into one of the deadliest countries in the Americas.

Why it matters

Ecuador is testing whether a democracy can use El Salvador-style emergency powers to break entrenched cartels — without the political costs Bukele paid.

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Key Indicators

2,509

Homicides Jan–Apr 2026

Recorded killings in the first four months of the year, the trigger cited for Decree 370.

9 of 24

Provinces under curfew

Includes Pichincha (Quito) and Guayas (Guayaquil), covering most of Ecuador's population.

44%

Killings concentrated in Guayas

Single coastal province accounts for nearly half of national homicides in 2026.

11pm–5am

Curfew hours

Six-hour nightly window during which civilian movement is restricted through May 18.

2nd

Curfew of 2026

Follows a March curfew across four provinces that authorities say failed to disrupt criminal networks.

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People Involved

Daniel Noboa Azín

President of Ecuador

Governing under expanded state-of-emergency framework

Adolfo Macías Villamar ('Fito')

Leader of Los Choneros

Recaptured June 2025 after 17-month manhunt

Gian Carlo Loffredo

Minister of Defense

Overseeing military deployment under Decree 370

Organizations Involved

Los Choneros

Transnational criminal organization

Designated terrorist group under Ecuadorian law

Ecuador's largest gang, originally based in the coastal city of Chone, now operating as a cocaine-trafficking partner of Mexico's Sinaloa Cartel.

Los Lobos

Transnational criminal organization

Designated terrorist group; principal Choneros rival

Ecuador's second-largest gang, linked to Mexico's Jalisco New Generation Cartel and active in illegal mining as well as cocaine trafficking.

Armed Forces of Ecuador

National military

Deployed in domestic policing role under emergency decrees

Ecuador's military, traditionally focused on border defense, now operating as the government's primary tool for urban anti-gang operations.

Timeline

August 2023 May 2026

10 events Latest: May 3rd, 2026 · 4 months ago

Tap a bar to jump to that date

May 2026
Nationwide curfew takes effect across nine provinces
Latest Decree

Decree 370 enforces an 11 p.m.–5 a.m. movement ban through May 18, covering Quito, Guayaquil, and most of Ecuador's population.
May 3rd, 2026 • 11:00 PM
April 2026
Decree 370 announced amid homicide surge
Decree

Government cites 2,509 killings in four months as justification for expanded emergency measures.
April 21st, 2026
March 2026
First 2026 curfew imposed in four provinces
Decree

Earlier emergency decree restricts movement in Guayas and three other provinces but fails to disrupt gang networks.
March 15th, 2026
June 2025
'Fito' recaptured after 17-month manhunt
Security

Authorities locate Macías in a hidden bunker in Manabí province; he is later extradited to the United States.
June 25th, 2025
April 2025
Noboa re-elected to full presidential term
Political

Voters return Noboa over Luisa González, endorsing the security-first approach despite continued violence.
April 13th, 2025
January 2024
Armed gunmen storm TC Television live on air
Security Crisis

Masked attackers take over a live broadcast in Guayaquil, prompting Noboa to declare an 'internal armed conflict' the same day.
January 9th, 2024
Decree 111 designates 22 gangs as terrorist groups
Legal

Noboa authorizes military operations against organized crime, transforming Ecuador's security architecture.
January 9th, 2024
'Fito' escapes from La Regional prison
Security Crisis

Los Choneros leader Adolfo Macías is reported missing from his cell in Guayaquil, igniting a nationwide security emergency.
January 7th, 2024
October 2023
Noboa wins snap election on security platform
Political

Daniel Noboa, 35, defeats Luisa González in a runoff to complete the term of impeached predecessor Guillermo Lasso.
October 15th, 2023
August 2023
Presidential candidate Villavicencio assassinated
Inciting Event

Anti-corruption candidate Fernando Villavicencio is shot dead leaving a Quito campaign event, exposing the depth of Ecuador's gang infiltration.
August 9th, 2023

Historical Context

3 moments from history that rhyme with this story — and how they unfolded.

July 2000–2016

Plan Colombia (2000–2016)

The United States committed roughly $10 billion to Colombia's fight against the FARC insurgency and cocaine traffickers, combining military aid, aerial coca eradication, and judicial reform.

Then

Coca cultivation and homicide rates fell substantially through the late 2000s, and FARC combatants were pushed to peace negotiations.

Now

Cocaine production migrated to Peru and Ecuador's coastal corridors, fueling the trafficking ecosystem now driving Ecuador's crisis — the unintended consequence Quito is living through today.

Why this matters now

Ecuador's homicide surge is in part the downstream effect of successful interdiction elsewhere; any solution that ignores regional trafficking dynamics risks displacing the violence rather than resolving it.

December 2006–November 2012

Mexico's militarization under Calderón (2006–2012)

President Felipe Calderón deployed 50,000 soldiers against drug cartels within weeks of taking office, launching the war on drugs. High-value targets fell, but cartels splintered into smaller, more violent factions.

Then

Headline arrests and seizures rose sharply alongside soaring homicide rates that exceeded 120,000 deaths over the six-year term.

Now

Mexico's cartels fragmented and diversified into extortion, fuel theft, and human trafficking; military involvement in policing became permanent across successive governments.

Why this matters now

Ecuador's reliance on the armed forces for urban policing carries the same fragmentation risk: removing top leaders like 'Fito' may multiply rather than eliminate the violent actors driving homicides.

March 2022–ongoing

El Salvador's state of exception (2022)

After 87 killings in a single weekend, President Nayib Bukele suspended constitutional rights and arrested more than 80,000 suspected gang members. Mass detentions emptied MS-13 and Barrio 18 strongholds within months.

Then

El Salvador's homicide rate collapsed to among the lowest in the Western Hemisphere within two years, and Bukele's approval ratings exceeded 80 percent.

Now

The state of exception has been renewed dozens of times and is now a permanent feature of governance, drawing both regional imitators and sustained criticism from human rights bodies over due-process violations.

Why this matters now

Ecuador's framework consciously echoes Bukele's playbook — emergency decrees, military deployment, terrorist designations — but Noboa faces a more decentralized criminal landscape tied to international trafficking rather than locally rooted street gangs.