Ecuador’s Noboa seeks tax hike to fund security

The administration of Ecuadorean President Daniel Noboa has asked lawmakers to weigh an increase in value added tax (VAT) to finance efforts to combat crime gangs, as the armed forces increased operations in violent areas on Friday.
A dramatic spike in violence this week – including the on-air storming of a TV station, the hostage-taking of 178 prison staff by inmates and the kidnapping of police officers – appears to be a response by gangs to Noboa’s plans to tackle a dire security situation, the government has said.
Noboa, who took office in November, has declared a state of emergency and named 22 gangs as terrorist organizations.
A total of eight prison staff have been released since late on Thursday, prisons agency SNAI said in a statement on Friday.