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Ecuador’s Crisis: A Long Road Ahead

By Sebastián Hurtado

An early consensus has empowered President Noboa, but the consequences of a long conflict are unpredictable.

QUITO—The images shocked the world: Gang members invading a TV station, police being kidnapped, university students stampeding to safety. Perhaps not since the days of Pablo Escobar has a Latin American country seen such an audacious assault on central symbols of power. Now, President Daniel Noboa faces the difficult, but not impossible, task of restoring the rule of law. Noboa’s quick declaration of a state of “internal armed conflict” on Tuesday, designating gangs as terrorist groups, contrasted with more accommodating responses by previous governments. Ecuador’s military will...

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