Ecuador's President Guillermo Lasso has announced a state of emergency in three provinces following a shooting incident that killed the mayor of a port city in the country and a civilian.
Lasso announced the measure on Monday, a day after the fatal shooting of Manta mayor Agustin Intriago and a young soccer player named Ariana Estefanía Chancay.
Tweeting in Spanish, the president said he deeply regretted their murders. He wrote, "No mother should bury her children and no child should grow up without their father, even worse because of a crime attack."
He shared that Ecuador was in mourning and that they were "strengthening the coordination between the Armed Forces and the National Police."
Lamento profundamente los asesinatos de Agustín Intriago y Ariana Estefanía Chancay. Ninguna madre debería enterrar a sus hijos y ningún hijo crecer sin su padre, peor aún por un atentado del crimen. Hoy Ecuador está de luto.
— Guillermo Lasso (@LassoGuillermo) July 24, 2023
Estamos fortaleciendo la coordinación entre Fuerzas… pic.twitter.com/jNybDhHUFh
He then said a state of emergency and curfew would be declared in the provinces of "Manabí, Los Ríos and in the canton of Durán in the province of Guayas."
Lasso also gave an update on the slain mayor, noting that a suspect had been detained and investigations were underway.
At the time of the shooting, Intriago, who was 38, was in the port city of Manta, where he started a second term as mayor in May.
Paying a tribute to him, Intriago's wife, Rosita Saldarriaga, tweeted that he did nothing but work for Manta with "absolute devotion and determination." She shared that he did not sleep and just worked and worked.
Agustín no hacía más que trabajar por Manta, con devoción y determinación absoluta. No dormía, trabajaba y trabajaba. Quería que nuestros hijos y los hijos de Manta vivan en una mejor ciudad y por esto daba todo…
— Rosita Saldarriaga (@RositaSaldaS) July 24, 2023
El mejor hombre que ha tenido Manta, nos lo quitaron.
Chancay, on the other hand, was a 29-year-old female football player for the Las Dragonas team. She had approached the mayor to talk to him when the incident happened, according to BBC News. She had reportedly wanted to ask him for support for her amateur football team.
Police have not shared any motive behind the shooting, which also injured four people.
Intriago's murder has shocked the nation where attacks on politicians had not been common until recently.
In February, Omar Menéndez, a politician who was running for mayor in Puerto López, was killed just hours before polls opened.
Port cities like Manta have been worst hit by the rise in violence as rival gangs try to gain control of ports. They want use the ports to smuggle cocaine out of Ecuador to destinations like the U.S. and Europe.
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