Ecuador with new state of emergency due to energy crisis
Ecuador's President has decreed a new 60-day state of emergency, this time due to the serious energy crisis the country is going through.
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Mundo Equador
Daniel Noboa ordered "the mobilization and intervention" of the police and the Armed Forces throughout the territory "to guarantee the security of critical energy infrastructure facilities, to avoid sabotage, terrorist attacks or other threats that may affect their operation," according to a decree published on Friday.
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Since last Sunday, Ecuador has suffered daily power outages in different areas, which can last up to eight hours, because the country's second largest dam, Mazar, has run out of water.
The Mazar dam allows the operation of a complex of three hydroelectric plants with a capacity of 1,757 megawatts, equivalent to about a third of the country's demand.
Added to this is the cut in the electricity supply from Colombia, which is also facing a severe drought situation that prevents it from generating surplus electricity to export to Ecuador.
This new state of emergency comes on the eve of the referendum called by Noboa for this Sunday, in which he intends to approve a series of reforms in the areas of security, justice, investment and employment.
The state of emergency was decreed in early January to deal with a wave of violence by organized crime groups, following a series of attacks and violent actions.
The prolonged power cuts forced the Government to decree the suspension of work and classes on Thursday and Friday, although many private companies continued to operate normally, since only three out of every 10 people of working age in Ecuador have a formal job.
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