Guayaquil

That is how "Jorge" - not his real name - feels about his neighbourhood of Guayaquil, a city in southern Ecuador.

They had fled their hometown of Guayaquil, Ecuador, to escape rapidly escalating gang violence.

He is now being held at a maximum security prison at the port city of Guayaquil.

On Tuesday newspapers around Ecuador published schedules for power cuts in cities that included Quito, Cuenca and Guayaquil, where most homes and many businesses were left without power for three hours.

Ninety per cent of illegal drugs leaving Ecuador are hidden inside shipping containers departing the port of Guayaquil, according to Ecuador's coastguard.