Is Ecuador a country of ‘levers’ or ‘patrinazgos’? Experts affirm that this type of practice is unethical and illegal, but they mark differences around the phrase ‘Guillermo Lasso is my godfather’

There are situations in which people with a call resolve a procedure or offer an amount of money in exchange; In other scenarios, there is talk of citizens who obtain a job without going through a selection process. These are some examples of the so-called “palancas” or “padrinazgos”, which according to experts remain practices in Ecuador.

With Guillermo Lasso as godfather, Ángel Freire has already obtained the promised credit in BanEcuador

For the labor expert Vannessa Velásquezthe expression of the President Guillermo Lasso last Saturday at a social interest housing delivery event.

There, one of the beneficiaries of the housing plan, who is a shoe artisan, told the president that he was out of money. In addition, he asked Lasso to commit to him and to the people of the Pedro Carbo canton. The head of the Executive told him: “Go to BanEcuador and ask for a loan at 1% and up to a 30-year term especially for you. Go on Monday (to BanEcuador) in my name and tell them: ‘Guillermo Lasso is my godfather’”.

‘Go on Monday (to BanEcuador) in my name and tell them: Guillermo Lasso is my godfather’: the president’s offer to an unemployed artisan in Pedro Carbo

According to Velasquez, This type of response from the Executive comes, first, “from a lack of communication” from the Presidency; and, second, from a habit.

“That is the perception that the majority of Ecuadorians have: that in order to manage any procedure in the country, these so-called ‘levers’ are needed. And that is contrary to what the law provides, because the State is supposed to be diligent and that the State must provide quality services to all users, whoever they are,” says Velásquez, who adds that these unethical practices also arise out of habit.

For example, Velásquez assures that he has been able to identify in the Ministry of Labor that the complaints disappear as if by magic. “(A company) has unpaid workers’ salaries. They (employees) file the complaint and magically file against the existence of non-compliance ”, says the expert.

Ider Salgado, a professor at Uisek’s Faculty of Labor Sciences and Human Talent, regrets that in the country “there are people with many titles or merits to hold a public or private position, but friendships prevail more and ‘levers’ to reach that agreement”.

This is the profile of the personnel that is already being sought in companies for the Christmas season in Ecuador

He stresses that the example of President Guillermo Lasso would not be that type of situation. “We cannot put the President of the Republic in the same bag. What he is doing is a reference. We have seen publicly that he is not receiving money for this management, ”he explains.

Salgado indicates that these situations, known as “levers” or “patrinazgos”, result in a series of crimes linked to bribery: extortion and bribery. This is also the case with the practice oflobbying political”, both in the public and private sectors.

“It is illegal and unconstitutional to manage or make lobbying to manage public positions (or carry out any procedure). If I offer a position of free removal as holder, there is nothing illegal about it, because the entire public administration is under my responsibility. Illegal is to offer or manage (in a position) that is a career, which is managed through a contest of merits and oppositions ”, highlights Salgado.

Velásquez agrees that the using these “patrinazgos” or “levers” is linked to concussion. “Because, despite the fact that it is not necessarily linked to a payment or economic remuneration, it marks a difference between the one who decided to carry out the process legally and the one who does it by skipping stages or steps, by the famous ‘lever’. And it is a crime of concussion: public servants and people who act by virtue of state authority and who, abusing their position or functions, by themselves or through third parties, order or demand the delivery of money or goods”, he expresses.

The expert regrets having evidenced these situations of “leverage” in legal proceedings, according to her statements.

He points out that there are processes without a hearing for a year, and others are dealt with quickly. “All of this generates distrust of public services and discontent with officials, who force users to look for the ‘lever’ to achieve success in their procedures,” he reproaches.

Velásquez considers that one of the solutions is simplify procedures and deepen ethics classes in the educational system. And Salgado believes that the ideal is change labor law: that both the public and private sectors use the merit mechanism to fill a vacancy. “That the recommendation be 10% and not 90%. But the titles are now 10% ”, he laments. (YO)