Human rights advocates are concerned that the new crackdown against violence will be too harsh.
Advocates for human rights worry that the fresh violence reduction will be excessive. The new crackdown on violence, according to animal rights activists, will go very far.
Human rights advocates are concerned that the new crackdown against violence will be too harsh.
On January 10, Ecuador’s president, Daniel Noboa, declared that the South American nation is in “an internal armed conflict.” Noboa’s declaration comes after weeks of violence driven by gangs and organized crime.. . The move follows similar declarations of states of emergencies to combat criminal groups by El Salvador’s president Nayib Bukele. Human rights observers, however, point out that these have resulted in numerous violations of human rights.. . “Noboa declared this is an internal armed conflict, and designated the twenty-two organized crime groups as terrorist organizations and as non-belligerent state actors,” María del Carmen Villarreal Villamar, an Ecuadorian researcher and editor of the news portal Latinoamérica21, tells The Progressive. “This has enormous consequences at the level of international humanitarian law.”. . The declaration stemmed from the events of January 9, when a group of thirteen armed masked individuals broke into a live broadcast of a news program on the local TC Television network in Guayaquil, Ecuador. The group of men waved guns and explosives as they took the presenters hostage during a live broadcast viewed by thousands.. . While no one was killed in the attack, it highlights the recent deterioration in security in Ecuador, which has also included two high-profile cartel leaders escaping from prison and a candidate being assassinated in the lead up to the 2023 presidential elections. And on January 17, the prosecutor assigned to investigate the attack on the television station, César Suárez, was shot and killed.. . ×. Expand. Jonathan Miranda/Presidencia de la República. Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa met with United States Army General Laura Richardson, along with other U.S. and Ecuadorian civil and military officials, in January to discuss the recent surge in violence.. Noboa’s proclamation allows the police and military to deploy into the streets, the suspension of constitutional rights, and more militarized prisons. As Villarreal Villamar points out, the new measures will likely jeopardize human rights, similar to the situation in El Salvador. According to Villarreal Villamar police in Ecuador are now targeting people with tattoos in their sweeps as part of the war on gangs and drug cartels.. . These recent attacks and assassinations highlight how violent crime has steadily increased over recent years in the country. Ecuador has transformed into one of the most violent countries in the region, due in part to the rise of drug trafficking gangs and other forms of organized crime.. . Villarreal Villmar explains that this crisis is the result of “the dismantling of the State and the destructuring of state capabilities in the area of security,” as recent governments have pursued austerity policies that have permitted the rise in criminal groups. Adding, “[The crisis grew worse] in the governments of [former presidents] Lenin Moreno and Guillermo Lasso because they stopped investing in society, they stopped investing in public policy, they cut back due to neoliberal thinking.”. . President Noboa plans to further militarize the country and increase the country’s prison population, and is seeking to build a prison system inspired by El Salvador. Ecuador is also set to receive additional U.S. military aid in order to carry out their war against organized crime.. . . The use of states of emergency as a tactic to combat crime has become more popular across Latin America, in part because of the perceived successes of Bukele’s mano dura, or “heavy hand,” policies in El Salvador.. . Since March 2022, El Salvador has lived under a near-permanent state of emergency used to combat powerful gangs in the Central American nation. The initial declaration followed a weekend of violence that left nearly sixty people dead in a single day in 2022.. . ×. Expand. Thiago Dezan / Farpa (CC By 2.0). The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights visited a prison in El Salvador in December 2019, after which the organization expressed concerns about human rights violations and inhumane conditions.. In the following years, the number of homicides has drastically fallen and the country has seen an increase in the prison population, with tens of thousands of young men being arrested and incarcerated for alleged gang affiliation. But human rights organizations have pointed out that these anti-crime tactics have resulted in human rights violations and the criminalization of young men living in poverty, many of whom often have no affiliation to gangs.. . While Bukele was not the first to employ such uses of states of emergency, he has become an example for the hemisphere.. . Reuters reports that Costa Rica is considering adopting a similar model for combating gangs. As the country has seen a steady increase in violent crime, with homicides rising 40 percent in 2023, President Rodrigo Chaves has looked to El Salvador as a model. In November, Chaves declared while presenting his National Security Plan that “extraordinary times require extraordinary measures.”. . As President Noboa of Ecuador adopts the use of Bukele’s tactics, he will likely face the same criticisms that Bukele has faced. Added to this, there is only a short-term gain in the application of these policies, since they do not resolve the reasons for the rise of violent organized crime. “Noboa is undoubtedly entering that path [of Bukele],” Villarreal Villamar says.. . “But in reality, what is happening is not only a security crisis,” she says. “In order to confront organized crime, you need a clear security strategy, an intelligence strategy, and the creation of a strategy of public policies—that is, you need social justice. Without that, you have no way out.”
