section_path: Presidency (2023–present)/2024 and 2025/State of emergency
section_name: State of emergency
paragraph_text: State of emergency
  
  On 7 January 2024, Los Choneros leader José Adolfo Macías Villamar escaped from prison in the city of Guayaquil, on the day of his scheduled transfer to a maximum-security prison. The events were reported the next day by authorities, with charges being filed against two prison guards. Following the escape, Noboa declared a state of emergency, to last for 60 days, giving authorities the power to suspend people's rights and allowing the military to be mobilized inside prisons. Riots ensued in multiple prisons across Ecuador.
  
  Two days later, mass armed attacks occurred throughout the country, including the storming of a television station during a live broadcast. The left-wing opposition supported the government, saying: "Now is the time for national unity. Organized crime has declared war on the state, and the state must prevail". Some analysts criticized Noboa for providing an exclusively security-based response to crime, without making any announcements on possible reforms of the police and judiciary, reputed to be highly corrupt, or on social policies to combat the root causes of violence. Amid the conflict, a series of human rights violations were denounced. The lack of regulation and the way in which security measures were implemented resulted in allegations of human rights violations from local and international civil society organizations such as the Alianza por los Derechos Humanos de Ecuador and Human Rights Watch. In mid-2024, the United Nations Committee Against Torture noted its concern over allegations about the management of the crisis and the treatment of detainees by Ecuadorian security forces. In 2025, the nation's Permanent Committee for the Defense of Human Rights issued a report on the potential cases of 27 people victims of forced disappearance by state forces.
  
  The PROGEN case in Ecuador has also sparked a scandal due to a $149 million contract signed by the government for the purchase of thermal generators. Amid an energy crisis, delays and the lack of transparency in the process have worsened the situation, leaving the country without the promised 150 megawatts.