The director of a prison in Ecuador was shot dead on Sunday April 21, in the middle of a national referendum aimed at toughening the fight against drug trafficking and criminal groups. The director of Penitentiary No. 4 in Manabi, in the west of the country “was the victim of an attack which unfortunately resulted in his death,” the prison administration said in a statement. The man was shot and killed by unknown assailants while he was sitting at a restaurant.
Ecuador, plagued by drug trafficking and corruption, which has become the main platform for the export of cocaine produced in neighboring Colombia and Peru, has been facing a serious security crisis caused by gangs since mid-January. One of the epicenters of this crisis is the prison system, the scene of recurring massacres and power struggles between criminal groups, which the government is trying to take control of. President Daniel Noboa, elected in November for eighteen months and who is expected to seek a new term in 2025, declared the country in “internal armed conflict” and deployed the army to neutralize around twenty of these groups.
Since then, nearly fifteen politicians, mayors, local officials, and even prosecutors have been assassinated. On Friday, a new mayor was shot and killed.
More than seven out of ten voters came
In this context, some 13.6 million voters were called on Sunday to vote on several measures to fight crime, by answering yes or no to eleven questions asked by President Noboa. According to the electoral authority (CNE), 72% of Ecuadorian voters went to the polls.
Among the main proposals of this consultation which will notably define "the direction and state policy (...) against violence, organized crime, the fight against corruption" according to the Head of State, included the extradition of nationals Ecuadorians linked to organized crime, particularly to the United States, a measure particularly feared by narcos. According to exit polls, the proposal was on track to be widely approved by voters.
The Ecuadorians also spoke out on the participation of the army in arms control, on the increase in penalties for offenses linked to organized crime and on the possibility for security forces to use seized weapons.
On all these security issues, voters seem to have supported President Noboa's demands, again according to polls published by the media at the end of the day, showing nine yes to Noboa's eleven demands, a "victory" for the latter, concluded Sunday evening the national press.
The two rejected proposals, according to the same source, would concern the formalization of work paid by the hour - a measure strongly criticized by unions and indigenous organizations -, and the recognition of international arbitration to resolve disputes in matters of investment and trade. On this subject, Ecuador ended bilateral treaties and withdrew from arbitration bodies under the government of former socialist president Rafael Correa (2007-2017), now an opponent in exile after his conviction. for corruption.
Diplomatic storm
This referendum took place in a particularly complex context for the country. In addition to the security challenge, since the beginning of April Ecuador has been experiencing a diplomatic storm caused by a police assault on the Mexican embassy in Quito to capture a former vice-president of Rafael Correa, Jorge Glas (2013-2017), who is under investigation for corruption.
Despite a tarnished image abroad, Mr. Noboa, 36, says he has “no regrets” about this raid, which cost the country a trial – still ongoing – before the International Court of Justice ( ICJ), and international condemnation and particularly angry left-wing governments in Latin America.
At the national level, the emergency of the moment is energy, with severe electricity rationing (up to 13 hours per day) and an emergency review of hydroelectric installations. Consequence of the drought, the El Niño phenomenon, but also of poor administrative management, by the authorities' own admission, this shortage of electricity would also be the result of "sabotage" linked to his political enemies, according to President Noboa . A presidential decree Friday ordered the mobilization of the police and army “to guarantee the security of energy infrastructure.”
