The latest measures announced by the government with regard to the level of insecurity have two effects in the eyes of businessmen, good and bad.

For the president of the National Federation of Provincial Tourist Chambers of Ecuador, Holbach Muñeton, carrying weapons will greatly help people feel safe and is a good measure if there is transparency in the institution that will grant the authority, and if there are no bottlenecks like passports, i.e. there is no capacity to serve those who require these procedures.

What he considers worrisome are the curfews, because he believes that such a measure affects business productivity. “You have to think about the whole value chain, in all the businesses, not only in the daily business, we have to think about the bars, the nightclubs, the restaurants and the nightlife of Guayaquil. It cannot be that such a powerful city as Guayaquil from one in the morning to five in the morning you cannot leave”.

Santa Elena tourism operators believe their activities will be affected by the holiday curfew

On the night of this Saturday, April 1, President Guillermo Lasso declared a new state of emergency in Guayaquil, Durán and Samborondón and in the provinces of Santa Elena and Los Ríos. This includes a curfew from 01:00 to 05:00 starting this Sunday, April 2. The measure will last sixty days.

In addition, the president announced that the possession and carrying of weapons for civilian use for personal defense will be allowed in accordance with the requirements of the law and regulations. Also, among other measures, the use of pepper spray for personal defense.

What are the requirements for obtaining a permit to carry a weapon and who issues it?

“Regulated transport is wonderful for those of us who live from agriculture, the fear of transporting our crops on the main and neighboring roads was terrifying. The habit of wage earners to receive their money in cash has also complicated things for us,” cocoa producer Eduardo Vera Bowen wrote on his Twitter, adding that regulated shipping is not a complete solution for everything, “but it is a helpful tool in our work as a manufacturing sector.”

The owner of the restaurant, Francesca Ferrero, also objected that this social network, which hopes “that this small step of regulated size is not a washing of hands or a transfer of responsibility and that pressure is put on the government to take the necessary investments and measures to ensure the safety of citizens”.