Narcos in Ecuador: judges are afraid and receive death threats on WhatsApp

Ecuadorian police arrested two suspects in the murder of the anti-mafia prosecutor on Thursday Cesare Suarez, when the country wages a war against drug trafficking with thousands of soldiers deployed. The authorities recognized this “did not have permanent police custody”despite the violence and threats.

“They threatened me in December 2023, according to the brochure, because I was not an ally of organized crime. They sent it on WhatsApp. From there I maintain police custody,” says Heidy Borja Hernández, president of the Association of Magistrates and Judges in the province of Guayas. Like other people in the union, he continues to practice despite threats.

The murder of the public prosecutor César Suárez, in the middle of the street in Guayaquil, revealed the numerous shortcomings in the protection of prosecutors, judges and lawyers who handle very dangerous cases. Suárez was investigating, among other things, the attack on the TC Televisión channel.

“Why did they kill him? Well, the first violation that judges and prosecutors suffer in Ecuador is because we don’t have a protection system. There are no minimum safety guarantees. Especially a person who ran a high risk because he dealt with many cases against corruption, many cases against the mafia and organized crime, not only now, but for several years”, explains the judge.

“There was also a public prosecutor who always had delegations from the attorney general to carry out numerous investigations, both in the province of Guayas and in other provinces, where there is a high crime rate. From what I understand, if he had police protection and this is something the National Police will have to find out, if they respected the protection of the public prosecutor. Obviously not, given that he was murdered”, he underlines.

Deadlines and budget availability

Heidy Borja Hernández regrets that, although there is a police protection protocol, it does not work.

“There is a ministerial agreement, number 0150, approved by the Minister of the Interior in December 2023, in which the new protocol is amended to guarantee police protection to judicial officers who request it, either due to threat or because they find themselves at risk” , explains

And he adds: “The unfortunate thing about this protocol is that practically Allow a period of 15 days to be placed in police custody. That is, I am threatened with death and I have to wait a maximum of 15 days to have police protection.”

“Similarly, this protocol requires the Judicial Council to issue a certification of budget availability so that accommodation, food and travel expenses for police custody can be covered. And in many cases where a judge or prosecutor is threatened, we, the judges and prosecutors, are in our own pocket, we end up bearing those expenses. And also to cover the costs of private medical insurance and life insurance, because not even the Ecuadorian state gives them to you,” underlines the judge.

The judges are afraid

“Of course there is fear among the judges,” he says and assures us that this is the most worrying thing. “Especially in criminal judges. And this fear greatly affects the fulfillment of our duties, because you have judges who are afraid. This greatly affects the mental health of judges and everything that needs to be considered. So it’s not simply that we complain as a symptom of rebellion.”

“Here we are already protesting because our lives are at risk. We won’t settle for them by simply issuing a condolence agreement and that’s it.. What we want is for no more lives to be lost in the performance of our duties., especially the good judges and prosecutors of this country. If it is an internal armed conflict, we must all coordinate efforts and we must all be protected,” he concludes.