MOSCOW, January 10. /TASS/. Ecuador’s authorities will definitely quell the current unrest, but the country will require sweeping reforms afterwards, Dmitry Rozental, Acting Director of the Latin American Studies Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences and an expert of the Russian International Affairs Council, told TASS.

"So far, the country’s authorities have control of the situation, although it is really complicated and dangerous," Rozental said. "Those steps and measures which the authorities have selected to suppress the riots are quite tough, and therefore they will on the whole be sufficient to suppress the uprising. That being said, things will not end there. The Ecuadorian government will have to make serious changes in the penitentiary system, the anti-crime system as well as in many other areas of society."

When asked about the possibility of foreign interference, the expert opined that the current problems were unlikely to have been brought in from outside.

"In general, the crime problems are, regrettably, a traditional feature of Ecuadorian life in recent years. There are also regular prison riots," he said. "However, the present riots are among the most massive in the country in recent years."

According to Rozental, Ecuador’s neighbors are at risk of being destabilized.

"For example, Peru has already reinforced its border with Ecuador to prevent incursions by criminal organizations," the expert said. "There are risks, since the Ecuadorian authorities have begun to impose order and squeeze out criminals, that they will try to flee to other countries. However, it is still premature to talk about the scale of such risks."

Ecuador plunged into a security crisis on January 7 after the head of the Los Choneros gang, who was known as Fito, broke out of the prison, sparking unrest in some penitentiary facilities. On January 8, Ecuador’s President Daniel Noboa declared a state of emergency in the country.