QUITO_ The president of Ecuador, Daniel Noboaordered on Monday the state agency in charge of the penitentiary system – SNAI – to process the repatriation of foreigners who are imprisoned in the country serving sentences in the midst of a prison crisis.
The president ordered through a decree that, in compliance with national and international standards, the SNAI carries out the administrative procedures so that foreigners serve their sentences “in the country of origin or nationality.”
A 2022 prison census established that there were 31,300 prisoners in Ecuador’s 36 prisons, of which 3,200 were foreigners.
Two weeks ago, Noboa announced that some 1,500 imprisoned Colombians will be repatriated, something that Bogotá rejects, considering that it is a unilateral measure and that, in practice, the people who are returned would be released on the other side of the border.
It must be “studyed case by case” and “have the consent of the person deprived of liberty,” according to a joint statement from Colombian ministries.
Control of penitentiary centers
The ruler of Ecuador is waging a war against drug trafficking gangs and, with the support of the military, seeks to regain control of prisons under the power of criminal groups that sow terror in the country.
About twenty of these organizations commit crimes from prisons, manage drug trafficking and direct one of the worst attacks against the State.
So far in January, at least 20 deaths have been recorded, and some 200 police officers, guards and prison employees have been temporarily detained.
Noboa maintains that the decision to repatriate imprisoned foreigners responds to overcrowding in the prisons, which have capacity for about 30,200 people and which register an excess of 3,000.
“We must leave them at the border and there are international agreements that support it,” said Noboa, who is promoting the construction of two extreme security prisons.
Criminal gangs linked to cartels in Colombia and Mexico clash over drug loot in clashes that have left more than 460 inmates dead since 2021.
Source: AFP
