Ecuador's presidency declared a state of emergency on Wednesday, which allows the deployment of the army on the streets, for 60 days in the coastal provinces of Guayas, El Oro, Santa Elena, Manabí and Los Ríos, and in the Amazonian provinces of Sucumbíos and Orellana, as well as in the Camilo Ponce Enríquez region, in the Andean province of Azuay.

According to the decree, there has been "an increase in systematic violence perpetrated by organized violent groups, terrorist organizations and belligerent non-state individuals" in these areas.

In January, the escape of the leader of an organized crime group from a maximum security prison triggered violent uprisings by gangs linked to drug trafficking, which caused prison riots, attacks on the press, bomb attacks and about 20 deaths.

Ecuador's President Daniel Noboa then established a state of emergency, in force for the 90 days allowed by law, and declared the country in "internal armed conflict".

The army was ordered to neutralize about 20 criminal groups linked to the Albanian mafia and to the cartels of Mexico and Colombia, described as terrorists and belligerents.

"On January 9, when we declared war on terrorist groups, we were in general chaos and, in five months, we have managed to restore peace to the Ecuadorian people," Noboa said on Wednesday.

The state of emergency for the seven provinces is part of a "second phase of the war" against drugs and organized crime, the head of state added, in a video released by the presidency.

The Ecuadorian president said that the war "has been sectorized" and that "criminal gangs, faced with the military offensive, have taken refuge and entrenched themselves in seven provinces" where the capacities of the public forces "have been exceeded".

In these regions, dozens of people have been killed in several incidents in recent weeks.

The provinces under a state of emergency are those that "most need the freedom of action of the armed forces and the national police", which is why the rights to the inviolability of the home and correspondence have been suspended, Noboa said.

"Despite the significant risks we face, we are here to guarantee what we have gained and to react with determination and strength," he stressed.

Hours earlier, the organization Human Rights Watch denounced that Ecuador's security forces have committed "serious violations" of human rights in the fight against armed gangs in the country.

In a letter addressed to Noboa, the organization stated that the violations include at least one possible "extrajudicial execution" and "multiple cases of arbitrary detentions and ill-treatment by state forces and agencies".

Read Also: "Serious violations" of human rights in Ecuador in the fight against gangs (Portuguese version)