Sometimes when Ecuador is going through a serious wave of insecurity and when a political process threatens the management of the Executive, the president William Lasso this Wednesday he signed a decree declaring terrorism “a threat against the state” and ordering the armed forces to take immediate measures to repress “the terrorist threat”.

On April 27, the newspaper El Comercio recalls, the Council of State and Public Security (COSEPE) had declared the criminal groups operating in the field of drug trafficking “terrorists”, and now the decree signed by Lasso represents the necessary legal instrument so that the military can intervene in public order operations.

“War Operations”

In the first of the five articles that make up the decree, the armed forces are ordered to “fulfil their mission of defending sovereignty and territorial integrity and to protect the rights, freedoms and guarantees of citizens, carry out military operations addressing and countering terrorist organizations and individuals”.

He specifies this, applying “the international instruments, the provisions of the Constitution of the Republic and the internal legal system of the Ecuadorian State, in order to guarantee the sovereignty and territorial integrity and the full validity of the Constitution and the legal system”.

Violence has increased considerably in Ecuador in recent years including drug trafficking with the homicide rate rising from 14 to 25 per 100,000 population between 2021 and 2022.

This situation has also been transferred to prisons where, since 2021, more than 420 inmates died in prison massacres.

A few days ago, General Alexander Levoyer, commander of the joint armed forces and police in the province of Esmeraldas, warned: “We have lethal weapons, tanks, planes, if we have to use them against criminalswe will do it”.

Agreement with Brazil

The Brazilian Foreign Minister visited Lasso this Thursday, with whom he discussed the issue of organized crime. Mauro Vieira said after the meeting that for both countries this phenomenon is a priority.

“We confirm that the fight against international organized crime is a priority for both governments,” Vieira said in a joint statement with his Ecuadorian counterpart Gustavo Manrique.

He added that Brazil has strengthened cooperation on defense and public security with Ecuador, which is affected by the increase in drug trafficking and crime.

Located between Colombia and Peru, the world’s largest cocaine producers, Ecuador faces a crime wave.

According to the Executive, violence is the product of gang fights that drug trafficking routes are contested.

Between January and April, Ecuador seized 64 tons of drugs. By 2022, authorities had seized more than 200 tons, mostly of cocaine.

To counter the criminal gangs, Lasso has decreed two distinct states of emergency and has even given the population the green light to possess and carry weapons for personal defense.

In addition, on April 26, he appointed Paco Moncayo as security adviser and Wagner Bravo as secretary of public safety, two former military officers with whose appointments he hoped to improve results in the area.

indictment

The authorization for the military to act against terrorism was granted at a time when the National Assembly (Parliament) drafted a political process of censorship against President Lasso, accused by the opposition of an alleged crime of embezzlement (embezzlement) in a public company.

Regardless of the legal arguments presented by the ruling party and the opposition in Parliament, Lasso’s fate will depend on the votes.

To remove the president requires 92 votes, equal to two-thirds of the Legislature.

On the one hand, the opposition, where Correísmo, Pachakutik’s indigenous movement, Izquierda Democrática and the right-wing Social Christian Party (PSC), Lasso’s former electoral ally, maintain their confidence in collecting votes for censorship, while the government thinks it can save the president from defeat.

ANSA, EFE and AFP

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