Ecuador stays on the watch list. The US State Department holds the country at Level 2, exercise increased caution, for crime, terrorism, unrest and kidnapping — but the headline level hides the real picture (State Department).
The coast is where it bites. The advisory carries Level 4, do not travel, pockets: Guayaquil south of Portete de Tarqui Avenue, the cities of Huaquillas and Arenillas in El Oro, several towns in Los Ríos, Durán canton in Guayas, and Esmeraldas city and everything north of it. A wider Level 3, reconsider travel, band covers much of the rest of the coast — the remainder of Guayaquil, El Oro and Los Ríos, plus Manabí, Santa Elena, Sucumbíos and Santo Domingo (State Department).
Behind the advisory is a country that has spent 2026 under rolling states of emergency and overnight curfews across the coastal provinces as the government fights cartel-driven violence, with US-Ecuador joint operations against designated groups announced earlier in the year (US Embassy Quito).
The operator read: treat Ecuador as two countries. Quito and the highlands are manageable business travel with sound routine — vetted transport, low profile, no street-hailed taxis. Guayaquil and the coastal corridor are a different category, where armed robbery, express kidnapping and extortion are routine and the Do-Not-Travel pockets should simply be avoided. Build airport transfers tightly, keep to daylight movement, track the curfew windows, and price coastal tasks as elevated risk rather than routine.
