The battle over Ecuador is heating up, and voters are satisfied with the tack employed by the recently elected President, Daniel Noboa, to rid their country of violence, as residents are eager to liberate themselves from the thraldom of the vicious gangs and criminal drug organizations that have been employed by terrorizing the population for a decade now.
As part of the Noboa administration’s April 2024 declaration of internal armed conflict, which declared war on 22 criminal organizations operating in the country, and which classified them as domestic terrorist groups, the government of Ecuador has been able to drastically expand its powers in the application of law enforcement against these criminal elements, dramatically reducing the amount of violence throughout various regions of the country which were as of late, definitively uncontrolled by local and national security forces.
These powers, on Thursday, July 24, have now extended to foreign-born individuals who are currently serving prison sentences for severe criminal offenses, when the Noboa government notified the Foreign Office of the Colombian President Gustavo Petro of the impending deportation of roughly 800 Colombian inmates currently being housed in various facilities throughout Ecuador’s prison system.
According to the government of Ecuador, the objective of these measures is to protect national security against threats from armed groups, allowing the expulsion of foreigners linked to serious crimes without having served even half of their sentences. The law, which was implemented as part of the state security powers during internal conflict, allows the government to remove foreign-born inmates and prevents them from returning to Ecuadorian territory for four decades. If these deportees do, however, return to Ecuador following their removal, they will be apprehended and subject to complete their pending sentences in Ecuador.
The plans for the return of Colombian criminal nationals who, according to the government in Ecuador, were serving sentences for serious crimes that include terrorism, robbery, drug trafficking, and murder, were not received well by Colombian residents, who are dissatisfied with the Petro government’s handling of violent crime in Colombia, as fears that crime will only exacerbate with the influx of more dangerous criminals into the country, begin to overwhelm elements of the Colombian population.
Petro, the first left-wing President of Colombia, is a former rebel of the M-19 guerrilla group that ravaged the capital of Bogotá during the 1980s, and is in his final year in office, is struggling to stay afloat amid mounting public criticism over his failure to achieve his campaign promise of ensuring lasting “Total Peace” with various other rebel groups who are vying for control over the lucrative drug routes in Colombia.
Recent rebel violence in Colombia, especially in its rural northern regions like Catatumbo, has resulted in the deaths of hundreds of innocent civilians, and is responsible for the displacement of over 50,000 local residents since early this year, causing a humanitarian crisis in the country that hasn’t been seen in decades.
The inmates will arrive by bus to Ipiales in southern Colombia and are expected to be released to Colombian authorities in the coming days as the two governments coordinate on logistics. The government of Ecuador recently issued a statement to its people that “the Government of Ecuador has informed the Government of Colombia of its intention to initiate, within the framework of its legal system, a process of deportation of Colombians deprived of their liberty in various penitentiary centers in that country.”
The Ministry also stated that it is in “talks with the neighboring country to ensure that the transfer of the nationals is carried out without any violation of their rights.”
