11/01/24 (Agence Europe) – The European Union’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs, Josep Borrell, said he was “deeply concerned by the surge of violence in Ecuador orchestrated by criminal groups”, describing it as “a direct attack on democracy and the rule of law” in the country, on Wednesday 10 January on X (formerly Twitter). Following the escape of a gang leader, a wave of attacks on law and order forces, and even the brief live raid of a public television set in Guayaquil, the Ecuadorian President, Daniel Noboa, declared a state of emergency in this major port on the Pacific coast which is an export point for cocaine produced in Colombia and Peru. (MB)