‘Clear signs of authoritarianism’: Ecuador’s ‘iron fist’ leader seeks re-election

Voters go to polls on Sunday to give verdict on Daniel Noboa, whose crime crackdown has eroded human rights

Carlos Javier Vega, 19, asked to switch shifts at his father's bakery in Guayaquil, Ecuador's largest city, so he could help his cousin sell a puppy.

A few blocks from the buyer's location, however, their car was stopped at a checkpoint manned by navy troopers deployed on the streets after President Daniel Noboa decreed an internal armed conflict" against organised crime.