Peru Deploys Police Special Forces to Border With Ecuador Amid Internal Conflict

MEXICO CITY (Sputnik) - The Peruvian Interior Ministry said Tuesday that police special forces are being deployed to the border with neighboring Ecuador after Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa declared a state of internal armed conflict in the country and ordered Ecuador's army to "neutralize" criminal groups operating in the country.

"Interior Minister Victor Torres Falcon has ordered that a contingent of the Directorate of Special Operations (Diroes) of national police be immediately deployed to the borderline with Ecuador to reinforce security measures," the ministry said on X (formerly Twitter).

La Republica newspaper reported earlier on Tuesday that Peruvian President Dina Boluarte had called an emergency meeting of the council of ministers to "take urgent measures to prevent thugs who escaped from [Ecuador's] prisons from entering Peru."

Peruvian Prime Minister Alberto Otarola said Tuesday that Lima will introduce a state of emergency at the border with Ecuador amid the unrest in the neighboring country.

"Our solidarity with brotherly Ecuador in the face of the events it is facing. Peru's police are stepping up security measures in the border area with the neighboring country. A state of emergency will be declared along the entire northern border of Peru. President Boluarte has ordered Peruvian Ministers of Interior and Defense [Victor Torres Falcon and Jorge Chavez Cresta] to immediately travel to [the city of] Tumbes to coordinate border security," Otarola said on X.

Earlier in the day, Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa said that the country was in a state of internal armed conflict amid the hostage-taking riots in various cities and prisons and designated several organized crime groups as "terrorist organizations." Noboa ordered the army to "neutralize" criminal groups operating in the country.

On Monday, Noboa declared a 60-day state of emergency in Ecuador following prison riots and the escape of a major gang leader.

The unrest came as authorities raided prisons in search of weapons and in an effort to disperse gang members to different facilities. During Sunday's search of the Guayaquil prison, law enforcement officials failed to find the leader of the Los Choneros gang, Jose Adolfo Macias Villamar, also known as Fito, who is considered the most dangerous criminal in the country.

Ecuador's National Service for Comprehensive Assistance to Adult Persons Deprived of Liberty and Teenage Offenders of Ecuador said on Tuesday that Fabricio Colon Pico, the leader of Ecuador's second-largest criminal gang, Los Lobos, has also escaped from prison as a result of riots.