Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa said today that this week's escalation of gang violence in his country is a problem for the entire world.
Ecuador's youngest president has only been in office since November, and is now facing the country's biggest crisis in its modern history.
"I didn't go into this thinking it was going to be easy," he told the BBC.
During the unrest, two gang leaders escaped from prison, prison guards were held hostage, gunmen stormed the television during a program, and explosions reverberated across the country.
Noboa declared martial law and war against the powerful gangs that control the cocaine trade.
"We cannot continue with this game that these terrorist groups are trying to set up," he said.
He ordered his army to "neutralize" 22 armed groups he designated as terrorist organizations.
Washington also offered help, so a delegation from the US will arrive in Ecuador next week.
His critics call it US interventionism, but President Nobo welcomes the move.
"It is encouraging to see that the international community is actually paying attention to what is happening here. It affects the whole world, the narco-terrorists who operate here have operations in Europe, in the USA. We have to solve the problem from the root, and the root of the problem is here." , he added.
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