INTERNACIONAL
Fears of another narco-state rise as Latin American country readies for pivotal vote
Ecuadorians go to the polls today in a runoff election between incumbent President Daniel Noboa and leftist challenger Luisa González. Noboa is seen as a pro-Trump conservative, while González is viewed as an ideological ally of Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro.
Noboa refused to recognize Maduro as the legitimate president of Venezuela after his staged 2024 election and is also committed to fighting criminal gangs with all available resources to restore peace and security in Ecuador.
It’s expected González will follow in the footsteps of her mentor, former president Rafael Correa, and seek stronger ties with Latin America’s leftist governments of Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silval, Gustavo Petro of Colombia and Gabriel Boric of Chile.
«Security has been his principal mandate as the president of Ecuador. He’s dedicated a lot of time, effort and resources to deal with the security situation,» Joseph Humire, executive director of the Center for a Secure Free Society and senior fellow of the America First Policy Institute, told Fox News Digital.
EXCLUSIVE LOOK INTO TRUMP REPATRIATION FLIGHT ON C-17 MILITARY PLANE TO ECUADOR
Ecuador President Daniel Noboa, who is running for re-election, waves after accompanying his running mate, Maria Jose Pinto, to cast her ballot during the presidential election in Quito, Ecuador, Feb. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Carlos Noriega)
«However, there’s been only marginal improvements in the security situation, and it’s compounded with other problems,» Humire added.
González is running on a platform calling for an increase in the military’s role in fighting gang violence but also strongly condemns excessive use of force and abuse of human rights.
She «appears to have a softer perspective on the issue of crime, meaning she has not stated her willingness to chase drug cartels but, most probably, would intend to negotiate with them,» Mathias Valdez Duffau, visiting fellow at the Center for International Studies at Catholic University of Argentina, told Fox News Digital.
Valdez Duffao said a policy of negotiation is similar to the policy of former President Correa’s administration and would focus on whole-of-government crime reduction approaches that would look to integrate criminal gangs into civil society.
«The reality is that negotiating with criminal gangs might give the government a short-term space to maneuver, but the gangs become stronger and end up co-opting government officials, which eventually leads the country to the brink of becoming a narco-state,» ValdezDuffao warned.
Luisa González, presidential candidate for the Citizen Revolution Movement, speaks after polls closed for the presidential election in Quito, Ecuador, Feb. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Carlos Noriega)
Violence and insecurity remain at the top of voters’ minds. Ecuador has the highest murder rate in Latin America, with 6,986 recorded homicides in 2024, making it the second most violent year in Ecuador’s history. Some 95,000 people fled the country in 2024 as many communities became focal points of turf wars between rival gangs competing for territory.
President Noboa declared an internal armed conflict in 2024 and ordered the armed forces to carry out military operations to neutralize various transnational organized crime groups. The anti-crime initiative saw an increase in the military’s presence in prisons and communities across the country.
RUBIO SCORES KEY WINS FOR TRUMP IMMIGRATION AGENDA WITH BLITZ THROUGH LATIN AMERICA
Blackwater founder Erik Prince walks with police officers during the Apolo 13 anti-crime operation April 5, 2025, in Guayaquil, Ecuador. (Agencia Press South/Getty Images)
Noboa also called for the international community to provide military assistance and suggested the U.S. army could work with Ecuador to combat violent gangs.
Despite the president’s hardline position on crime, January 2025 was Ecuador’s most violent month in recent history, with 781 people killed. Noboa partnered with Erik Prince, founder of the private security firm Blackwater, and formed a strategic alliance in March to strengthen Ecuador’s ability to fight narcoterrorism.
Ecuador’s National Police presents individuals detained during a police operation after gang clashes that resulted in multiple victims in Guayaquil, Ecuador, March 7, 2025. (Ecuador Interior Ministry/Handout via Reuters)
InSight Crime, a nonprofit focusing on organized crime and security in the Americas, reports that Ecuador is one of the region’s «most significant drug trafficking hubs» and ships cocaine from Peru and Colombia to Central America, Mexico and Europe. Many of these drug trafficking organizations working through local proxies and other criminal groups have infiltrated the prison system and expanded its network of street gangs.
The various groups operating throughout Ecuadorian society and within the prison system work with domestic and international drug traffickers, including the Sinaloa Cartel, considered one of the most powerful drug trafficking organizations in the world and responsible for a large amount of fentanyl trafficked into the U.S., according to the Department of Justice.
President Noboa and González each received around 44% of the vote in the first round of the election. González is the leader of Citizen Revolution and is considered the heir of former President Correa. She’s also looking to become the first female president of Ecuador. If she wins, Ecuador could see a return to the leftist economic policies of the Correa presidency.
Banners with an image of Daniel Noboa, Ecuador’s president and a presidential candidate (top) and leftist presidential candidate Luisa González are pictured on a street in Guayaquil, Ecuador, April 11, 2025. Ecuador will hold a presidential runoff April 13. (Raul Arboleda/AFP via Getty Images)
EXCLUSIVE LOOK INTO TRUMP REPATRIATION FLIGHT ON C-17 MILITARY PLANE TO ECUADOR
Whoever wins in the second round will have to contend with an evenly divided National Assembly split between both parties, making legislation to solve the country’s endemic violence and economic problems even more difficult.
Saúl Medina, a former governor of Tungurahua, told Fox News Digital that, after the electoral cycle, a comprehensive and determined strategy to combat gang violence must be enacted.
Men lie face down on the ground, detained by police outside TC Television after a producer told police they were part of a group that broke onto their set during a live broadcast in Guayaquil, Ecuador. (AP/Cesar Munoz)
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
Two of the most important issues that must be addressed, according to Medina, are strengthening institutions and executing better oversight of the police and justice system to root out corruption, and prison reform.
«Prisons must stop being operational centers for gangs,» Medina added.
Valdez Duffao, Humire and other experts on Latin America agreed Noboa has ingratiated himself with President Trump. They are ideologically similar and, should Noboa win, it could put him in a better position to address the country’s endemic violence.
INTERNACIONAL
Problemas legales y protestas de vecinos: el Reino Unido no sabe dónde poner a los migrantes
Protestas frente al hotel
Un gobierno conmocionado y sin salida
El hotel The Bell, en Epping, Essex. Foto: EFEEl hotel en el centro del debate
Un conductor grita a los periodistas, frente al hotel. Foto: EFELa población, encantada
Un cartel de protesta quedó tirado en el piso tras una manifestación frente al hotel. Foto: EFEObligación de alojarlos
El «dilema» del asilo
INTERNACIONAL
SCOOP: White House touts guns and drug haul removed from DC streets as Trump’s crime blitz nets 550 arrests
NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
FIRST ON FOX: More than 550 arrests have been made in the nation’s capital amid President Donald Trump’s crime crackdown that began earlier in August, including officials recovering illegal firearms and removing drugs from the streets, photos shared with Fox News Digital show.
Local police and federal law enforcement officers in the city have made more than 550 arrests since Aug. 7, including the apprehensions of three known gangbangers, one of whom was an MS-13 member, according to White House data provided Wednesday to Fox News Digital.
«Thanks to President Trump’s bold actions to Make DC Safe Again, more than 550 dangerous criminals have been removed from the streets of our nation’s capital,» White House spokeswoman Taylor Rogers told Fox News Digital Wednesday of the arrests.
«While the Fake News tried to sell a lie that D.C. was safe, these arrests reveal the truth,» she continued. «Hundreds of violent criminals have been arrested by federal law enforcement agents for carrying illegal weapons, distributing deadly drugs, committing armed robbery, and having ties to dangerous gangs like MS-13. President Trump is making DC safe again by enforcing the law and everyday Americans support his commonsense, tough-on-crime policies.»
MS-13 GANG MEMBER ARRESTED IN DC AS BONDI TOUTS ADMIN’S ‘EXTRAORDINARY’ CRIME CRACKDOWN
More than 550 arrests have been made in the nation’s capital amid President Donald Trump’s crime crackdown that began earlier in August (Alex Brandon/The Associated Press)
Tuesday evening’s sweep of the city included 91 arrests, Fox News Digital learned, including 25 arrests of illegal aliens. Many of the illegal aliens arrested had prior criminal histories, according to the White House, including multiple illegal reentries, and a threat to kidnap or injure a person, destruction of property, burglary, possession of drugs and driving while intoxicated.
68 DC SUSPECTS ARRESTED IN SINGLE NIGHT AS WHITE HOUSE TOUTS TRUMP’S PUSH TO ‘CLEAN UP’ CAPITAL CITY
The White House exclusively shared photos of items recovered during the Tuesday arrests, which included a backpack teeming with baggies of confirmed illegal substances, handguns and a knife.
The White House told Fox News Digital that law enforcement has removed substances stretching from marijuana, cocaine, meth and fentanyl from D.C. streets since the crime crackdown began Aug. 7.
Left: Photo of an illegal handgun recovered by law enforcement in Washington, D.C., the evening of Aug. 19, 2025. Right: Photo showing a knife and illegal substances recovered during crime sweeps in the nation’s capital Aug. 19, 2025. (White House)
All in, law enforcement recovered eight illegal firearms Tuesday evening, and made arrests for crimes such as an assault on a police officer, armed robbery, carrying a pistol without license, assault with deadly weapon, driving under the influence and for outstanding arrest warrants related to «Child Abuse (Death)» and involuntary manslaughter charges.
HUNDREDS ARRESTED AS TRUMP’S WASHINGTON, DC, CRIME CRACKDOWN HITS FULL STRIDE
A pair of photos showing a recovered handgun on the left and a bag of unidentified drugs on the right. (White House )
A total of 48 homeless encampments across the city have been removed as of Wednesday, Fox News Digital learned.
Trump federalized the Washington, D.C. police department Aug. 11 amid a trend of high-profile attacks and killings in the city following the wild crime trends that erupted in the U.S.’ notoriously bloody year of 2020. The more than 550 arrests are part of Trump’s March executive order, which established the Making D.C. Safe and Beautiful Task Force, ahead of the president federalizing the city in August.
WHITE HOUSE LAUNCHES FEDERAL SECURITY BLITZ AS PRESIDENT VOWS TO END DC ‘CRIME PLAGUE’
Federal law enforcement and the local D.C. police have made hundreds of arrests in Washington, since Aug. 7, Fox News Digital learned. (Andrew Leyden/Getty Images)
Hundreds of National Guard members, as well as the Metropolitan Police Department and personnel from federal agencies, such as the FBI, Drug Enforcement Administration, Capitol Police and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, have taken to the streets of D.C. to conduct sweeps and root out crime. The National Guard is not making arrests, but is assisting law enforcement with deterring crime and protecting the city.
There were more than 1,950 law enforcement officials who took part in Tuesday night’s sweeps and arrests, Fox News Digital learned. The crackdown is anticipated to continue heating up, including the U.S. Marshals Service offering $500 rewards to individuals who are able to provide tips that lead to arrests.
A mine-resistant ambush protected all-terrain vehicle is parked next to Union Station in Washington, D.C., Aug. 14, 2025, following President Donald Trump federalizing the city’s police department. (Fox News Digital/Peter Pinedo)
Democrats have slammed Trump over the federalization of the city’s police department, claiming crime data show violence is trending downward.
The Metropolitan Police Department’s crime data is currently under Department of Justice investigation in response to claims the force manipulated the data to produce more favorable crime trends in recent months, Fox News reported Tuesday.
SCOOP: TRUMP’S NEWEST DC CRIME CRACKDOWN YIELDS MORE THAN 100 ARRESTS
Trump had threatened to federalize the D.C. police department in the weeks leading up to his final decision, citing a handful of high-profile crimes that have rocked the city, including the fatal shooting of 21-year-old congressional intern Eric Tarpinian-Jachym in June; the fatal shooting of a pair of Israeli embassy staffers in May; and a brutal attack on a former Department of Government Efficiency staffer earlier in August.
Trump championed the crime crackdown in a press conference Aug. 11, when he first announced he would federalize the local police department under section 740 of the District of Columbia Home Rule Act, which allows the president to assume emergency control of the capital’s police force for 30 days.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
«Our capital city has been overtaken by violent gangs and bloodthirsty criminals, roving mobs of wild youth, drugged-out maniacs and homeless people,» Trump said Aug. 11. «And we’re not going to let it happen anymore. We’re not going to take it.»
donald trump,migrant crime,crime world,washington dc,police and law enforcement
Un informe oficial del Departamento de Estado de Estados Unidos reveló que en Ecuador se produjeron ejecuciones extrajudiciales, torturas y detenciones arbitrarias desde la declaración del conflicto armado interno, emitida por el presidente Daniel Noboa el 9 de enero de 2024. El reporte forma parte del documento anual sobre prácticas de derechos humanos, elaborado por la Oficina de Democracia, Derechos Humanos y Trabajo del gobierno estadounidense.
Aunque el gobierno ecuatoriano afirmó, según el reporte, haber tomado medidas para identificar y sancionar a funcionarios que hayan incurrido en abusos, el informe incluye casos documentados de violaciones graves a los derechos humanos por parte de fuerzas estatales durante operativos de seguridad dirigidos contra grupos criminales calificados como terroristas.
Entre los casos más graves se encuentra el asesinato de 15 personas en el marco de las operaciones militares autorizadas por decreto ejecutivo. La medida permitía a las Fuerzas Armadas apoyar a la Policía Nacional en acciones contra 22 organizaciones de crimen organizado, pero generó preocupación internacional debido a los posibles excesos cometidos durante su implementación.
Uno de los testimonios recogidos por el Departamento de Estado detalla que militares sometieron a detenidos a prácticas degradantes, como sumergirles la cabeza en tanques de agua mientras les aplicaban descargas eléctricas para extraer información sobre armas o drogas. Otro episodio señala que los oficiales los hacían acostarse boca abajo y les pisaban con las botas distintas partes del cuerpo, incluyendo la cabeza, el cuello y la espalda.
Organizaciones no gubernamentales también reportaron múltiples arrestos arbitrarios realizados durante los estados de excepción. Solo entre el 8 de enero y el 8 de abril, la Fundación Regional de Asesoría en Derechos Humanos registró al menos cinco detenciones sin justificación legal, tres de ellas cometidas por militares y dos por policías. No obstante, el informe advierte que la cifra real podría ser mucho más alta, dado el número de denuncias no sistematizadas por temor a represalias.
Aunque no se cita en el informe, en diciembre de 2024, la detención irregular de cuatro menores por parte de militares y el hallazgo de sus cuerpos incinerados encendió las alertas sobre el uso abusivo de las fuerzas de seguridad. El caso continúa en investigación.
En paralelo, el documento destaca que la violencia en las cárceles continuó escalando durante 2024. Grupos armados al interior de los centros penitenciarios provocaron motines y fugas, mientras que desde el exterior se registraron actos de violencia dirigidos a intimidar a periodistas, funcionarios públicos y medios de comunicación. El caso más emblemático ocurrió el 9 de enero de 2024, cuando un grupo armado irrumpió en vivo en el estudio de TC Televisión en Guayaquil y mantuvo como rehénes a varios trabajadores del canal.
La libertad de prensa fue otro derecho severamente afectado, según el informe. El informe cita que Fundamedios reportó 22 agresiones contra periodistas perpetradas por bandas criminales entre enero y agosto de 2024, en un patrón que incluyó amenazas, ataques físicos y censura indirecta. A pesar de estos hechos, las investigaciones oficiales fueron escasas o nulas. También se documentaron casos de censura estatal, como la eliminación de periodistas de chats oficiales o restricciones de acceso a información pública.
El informe también hace referencia a la desaparición forzada de al menos tres personas, ocurridas presuntamente en centros de detención. En uno de los casos, el gobierno respondió afirmando que el detenido se encontraba en buen estado de salud, pero guardó silencio sobre las otras dos desapariciones denunciadas por organizaciones de derechos humanos.
En el ámbito laboral, el Departamento de Estado apuntó a la falta de garantías para la libertad sindical y la negociación colectiva. Según el informe, el Ministerio de Trabajo demoró o dificultó la legalización de nuevas organizaciones sindicales y en algunos casos, empleadores despidieron a los líderes antes de que los sindicatos pudieran inscribirse formalmente, sin que los tribunales ordenaran su reincorporación.
Pese a estos hallazgos, el informe cita que, en marzo de 2024, el presidente Noboa firmó las declaraciones de Chapultepec y Salta, comprometiéndose públicamente con la defensa de la libertad de expresión. Posteriormente, en agosto, emitió un decreto que establece protocolos de protección y capacitación para periodistas en riesgo. Sin embargo, a la fecha, el mecanismo de protección de periodistas, que debe ser financiado por el gobierno, aún no recibe recursos económicos para proteger a periodistas en situación de riesgo.
El informe forma parte de la evaluación anual que Estados Unidos realiza sobre la situación de los derechos humanos en más de 200 países y territorios. En el caso de Ecuador, la sección sobre “temas significativos” incluye también el aumento de secuestros, extorsiones y homicidios atribuidos a bandas criminales, y hace un llamado a que las autoridades garanticen que las políticas de seguridad respeten los derechos fundamentales de la población.
North America,WASHINGTON
Elecciones Corrientes 2025: quiénes pueden votar el 31 de agosto
SCOOP: White House touts guns and drug haul removed from DC streets as Trump’s crime blitz nets 550 arrests
El héroe de Racing contra Peñarol vivió un insólito momento tras el partido: cómo lo salvaron los hinchas de la Academia
Diputados: Pagano y D’Alessandro, los dos libertarios raleados que dieron quorum para la sesión contra los vetos de Milei
La fuerte advertencia de uno de los jefes militares de EE.UU. en su visita en la Argentina
¡Maravilla presidente! A cuántos goles quedó de Diego Milito tras el doblete a Peñarol
¿Estamos ante el renacimiento de los Diablos Rojos?
Problemas legales y protestas de vecinos: el Reino Unido no sabe dónde poner a los migrantes
Lilia Lemoine criticó a las bicisendas y Myriam Bregman la acusó de no saber cruzar la calle
Elecciones Corrientes 2025: quiénes pueden votar el 31 de agosto
SCOOP: White House touts guns and drug haul removed from DC streets as Trump’s crime blitz nets 550 arrests
El héroe de Racing contra Peñarol vivió un insólito momento tras el partido: cómo lo salvaron los hinchas de la Academia
El Gobierno pidió la detención del propietario de HLB Pharma: “El señor del fentanilo debe ir preso”
Zaira Nara lanzó su nuevo emprendimiento y la mataron a críticas por sus «promos»: “Un robo”
Patricia Bullrich confirmó que será candidata a senadora por la ciudad de Buenos Aires
Pamela David se disculpó con Karina Milei por haber dicho que usaba un reloj de lujo
Tristeza: Nicolás Cabré no puede creer lo que vive Rufina con la China Suárez
Cierre de listas: todos los candidatos a senadores y diputados, las sorpresas y los interrogantes que faltan definir
POLITICA2 días agoPamela David se disculpó con Karina Milei por haber dicho que usaba un reloj de lujo
- CHIMENTOS3 días ago
El delicado estado de salud de Cacho Garay: «Sino mejora podrían apuntarle una extremidad»
- CHIMENTOS2 días ago
Uno por uno los famosos que serán candidatos en las próximas elecciones legislativas: «Van desde Virginia Gallardo y el Turco García hasta Porcel JR.»
