President Daniel Novoa says Ecuador will soon begin deporting 1,500 foreign prison inmates to ease prison overcrowding. announced on wednesday.
The majority of the prisoners soon to be deported are Colombian nationals, with the remainder reportedly from Peru and Venezuela. Colombia and Peru border Ecuador, and Venezuela, which borders Colombia, is also nearby. Future deportations will reportedly focus on prisoners from countries far away from Ecuador.
This announcement was made after Ecuador declared It is a state of “internal armed conflict,” sending military and police forces to wage war against more than 20 of the country's most dangerous criminal organizations. The gang launched a violent campaign of terror this week, with at least 12 people registering acts of violence. Deaths (number) As of noon Wednesday.
Violence erupted after Ecuador's most wanted gang leader Jose Adolfo Macias apparently disappeared from his cell on Monday. Immediately after Macias' escape, widespread gang violence broke out. kidnappingprison riots, most of which occurred in the city of Guayaquil, where the prison that held Macias was located.
Novoa announced his deportation in an interview with local residents. canela radio “Nearly all Ecuadorian prisoners are Colombian, Peruvian, or Venezuelan,” the agency said. Novoa said deportations will be carried out according to procedures detailed in international agreements.
“Colombia said they wanted to help us, so I told them, perfect, we'll send them the 1,500 prisoners we have in prisons in Ecuador,” Noboa said. Said. “They have been sentenced to more than five years in prison, and according to Ecuadorian law and international treaties, we will release them and, thank you, they can stay there.”
In the interview, Noboa also decried the fact that Ecuador spends more on feeding soon-to-be deported prisoners than it does on school breakfast programs for the country's children. Mr Novoa also confirmed plans to proceed with the construction of two maximum security buildings.huge prison'', the administration has promised to construct it in 2024. The planned prison would resemble a prison. built It was carried out by El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele in 2023 as part of El Salvador's own war against criminal organizations.
Colombia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Justice issued a joint statement. statement On Wednesday night, both countries expressed their readiness to invoke the corresponding deportation protocols and treaties signed between the two countries, but stressed that deportations must be evaluated on a case-by-case basis. They argued that this assessment “must be based on objective criteria and must have the consent of the person deprived of liberty.”
Colombia's statement reads in part:
The possibility of deportation other than repatriation, announced by the President of the Republic of Ecuador in the media, is a unilateral decision by the Ecuadorian state, and the Ecuadorian state's judicial decision is invalid. [Ecuador’s] Colombian judiciary. ”
The Government of Colombia trusts the Republic of Ecuador to take the necessary measures to protect the human rights of persons deprived of their liberty within its territory, without hindering the necessary repatriation procedures.
Colombian Minister of Justice Nestor Osuna Said He said at a press conference Wednesday that if Ecuador deports Colombian prisoners, the Colombian government must accept them, regardless of whether there are any outstanding criminal cases against the Colombian prisoners. .
“If we were to expel them, we would first of all be expelling them from prison. So we are letting them go free, and once they arrive at the border, of course Colombian citizens can enter Colombia.” Osuna said.
Colombia's far-left president Gustavo Petro has not yet publicly commented on the matter. Similarly, Peruvian President Dina Bolarte offered She supported Mr. Noboa and ordered increased security on Peru and Ecuador's shared border, but did not comment on the deportation plan. Venezuela's socialist dictator Nicolas Maduro has not commented on the matter as of press time.
Christian K. Caruso is a Venezuelan writer who chronicles life under socialism. You can follow him on Twitter here.
