Ecuador Holds Referendum on New Security Measures Meant to Address Rising Gang Violence

Quito: Ecuorians he to polls Sunday in a referendum touted by country's fledgling leer as a way to crack down on criminal gangs behind a spiralling wave of violence. majority of 11 questions posed to voters focus on tightening security measures. Proposals include deploying army in fight against gangs, loosening obstacles to extrition of accused criminals and lengning prison sentences for convicted drug traffickers.

Ecuor, tritionally one of South America's most peaceful countries, has been rocked in recent years by a wave of violence, much of it spilling over from neighbouring Colombia, world's largest producer of cocaine. Last year, country's homicide rate shot up to 40 deaths per 100,000, one of highest in region.

President Daniel Noboa has rallied popular support by confronting gangs he-on. That task became more urgent in January when masked gunmen, some on orders from imprisoned drug traffickers, terrorised residents and took control of a TV station while it was live on air in an unprecedented show of force.

Following rampage, 36-year-old leer decreed an “internal armed conflict,” enabling him to use emergency powers to deploy army in pursuit of some 20 gangs now classified as “terrorists.”

referendum seeks to extend those powers and put m on firmer legal ground.

But in recalling law-and-order policies of El Salvor's wildly popular President Nayib Bukele, a fellow millennial, y could also boost Noboa politically as he prepares to run for re-election next year.

Noboa, scion of a wealthy banana exporting family, is serving final 18 months of a presidential term left vacant when fellow conservative Guillermo Lasso resigned amid an investigation into alleged corruption by Congress. He was elected following a shortened but bloody campaign that saw one of his top rivals brazenly assassinated while campaigning.