By Alexandra Valencia
QUITO (Reuters) – Ecuador’s security forces will “very soon” receive advice from Erik Prince, the private security executive, on fighting criminal gangs that are attempting to increase violence ahead of an April presidential runoff vote, Interior Minister John Reimberg said.
President Daniel Noboa, who is locked in a tight contest with his leftist rival, said this week the South American country would work with Prince, who founded Blackwater before renaming the private military company and selling it in 2010 after several employees were indicted on charges of unlawfully killing Iraqi civilians. The men were convicted but later pardoned by President Donald Trump.
Noboa has declared a war on gangs as he tries to control violence with military presence on the streets and state of emergency declarations in dangerous areas.
“Erik Prince’s group will help us and we are going to do what it takes to achieve it,” Reimberg told Reuters late on Thursday. “It’s everything we have to do, we don’t rule out absolutely anything.”
“People will come who are prepared to give the necessary support to our police and military forces to get out of this crime problem,” he said.
Reimberg said the explosion of at least one car bomb outside a Guayaquil prison on Thursday morning, which killed one guard, was a reaction to Noboa’s meeting with Prince.
“That’s fear about what we are willing to do to reduce crime,” Reimberg said.
Criminal gangs are trying to stoke violence ahead of the April 13 runoff, Reimberg added.
Leftist Luisa Gonzalez, a protégé of former President Rafael Correa, has challenged Noboa’s security strategy and promised more social programs alongside security efforts.
The 2023 election, in which Noboa won his truncated term, was marked by violence, including the assassination of anti-corruption candidate Fernando Villavicencio.
(Reporting by Alexandra Valencia; Writing by Julia Symmes Cobb; Editing by Rod Nickel)
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