Spain is following with "concern" the crisis in Ecuador, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said Wednesday, a day after the Latin American country exploded in what President Daniel Noboa called an "internal armed conflict".
"We are of course following with concern the events that have been taking place in recent days in that country, which needless to say we will support," Sanchez said in Madrid, at an event with Spanish ambassadors.
"We are confident that normality will soon be restored," the premier said, adding that Madrid "backed democratic institutions".
Ecuador's president gave orders Tuesday to "neutralize" criminal gangs after gunmen opened fire in a TV studio and bandits threatened random executions on a second day of terror in the violence-riddled country.
Gangs declared war on the government when Noboa announced a state of emergency following the prison escape on Sunday of one of Ecuador's most powerful narco bosses.
At least 10 people have been killed in a series of attacks blamed on gangs -- eight in Guayaquil, and two "viciously murdered by armed criminals" in the nearby town of Nobol, police said Tuesday.
Long a peaceful haven sandwiched between top cocaine exporters Colombia and Peru, the former Spanish colony has seen violence explode in recent years as rival gangs with links to Mexican and Colombian cartels vie for control.
Drug violence has taken a heavy toll on the South American country since it became a key stop on the US- and Europe-bound cocaine trade.
The murder rate quadrupled from 2018 to 2022, and a record 220 tons of drugs were seized last year.
