The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office updated its Ecuador travel advice on 16 September 2026. It says the Ecuadorean government has declared a 60-day state of emergency as of 15 September, for security reasons, in eight provinces: Guayas, Manabí, Santa Elena, Los Ríos, El Oro, Pichincha, Esmeraldas and Santo Domingo de los Tsáchilas. Three cantons are also included: La Maná in Cotopaxi, Las Naves in Bolívar and Camilo Ponce Enriquez in Azuay.
The measure includes curfew hours from 12am to 5am in El Oro, Guayas, Los Ríos and Manabí, running from 17 to 30 September. The FCDO says the state of emergency will mean a greater police and military presence on the streets, and warns of heightened presence nationwide without previous notice, with potential travel disruption from extra security checks. It advises following the advice of local authorities and monitoring local media.
This is not the first declaration this year. The FCDO recorded a previous 60-day state of emergency in its advice on 19 June 2026.
The standing advice is unchanged. The FCDO advises against all but essential travel to the coastal provinces of Esmeraldas, Manabí, Santa Elena, Guayas, El Oro, Los Ríos and Santo Domingo de los Tsáchilas, except airside transit within Guayaquil Airport, and to areas within 20km of the border with Colombia, with named exceptions in Carchi province. It attributes the coastal advice to a high level of gang-related violence linked to organised crime and the drugs trade, and notes fatal armed attacks against police and prosecutors in Guayas.
The kidnap picture matters for movement planning. The FCDO says kidnapping rates have risen and that express kidnappings, short opportunistic abductions to extract cash from the victim, are common throughout Ecuador. Many cases involve victims who hailed taxis from the street, and in some cases victims are subdued with scopolamine.
For teams working Guayaquil or the coast, the practical effect is on night movement. Airport transfers, late arrivals and venue exits that fall between 12am and 5am in the four curfew provinces need replanning or local authority confirmation, and journey times should allow for checkpoints. Pichincha is inside the state of emergency but is not covered by the curfew or the advise-against list.
