Early departure of the military from the streets discourages citizens who ask for more security

The reduction from 60 to 30 days of state of exception ordered by the Constitutional Court has brought divided opinions in the streets. The majority disagrees with the decision made by the Constitutional Court that was known this Thursday.

Franklin Avilés, a citizen of Guayaquil, considers that even as a dissuasive measure, the military should continue in the streets carrying out operations, but admits that he has hardly felt the presence of the uniformed men in the last three weeks.

“I was expecting to see more soldiers and trucks. The Armed Forces said that 1,500 armed men would come out and I have only seen four or five on a corner, ”says the older adult, who was walking on 9 de Octubre this Friday towards a bank.

Geoconda Moreno was also in that sector. She was in line at a cashier and was looking from side to side.

“Here in the banking area there should always be the operations with the military and the police because they kill you for stealing your backpack or purse, regardless of whether or not you are withdrawing money,” says the 45-year-old citizen, who is against upon the early departure of the military.

The members of the Armed Forces. AA. They will only be in the streets until November 18 and not until December 18 as President Guillermo Lasso had decreed.

The first president signed the state of exception three weeks ago when twelve violent deaths were registered in Guayaquil, only during one weekend. Even an 11-year-old boy died during an attempted assault in a cafeteria in the south of the Buenos Aires city.

But the members of the Constitutional Court, in addition to reducing the time of military intervention for allegedly not justifying the state of emergency, also carried out a new observation on the role of the Armed Forces.

They determined that the mobilization of its members will be limited to the provinces of El Oro, Guayas, Santa Elena, Manabí, Los Ríos, Esmeraldas, Santo Domingo de los Tsáchilas, Pichincha and Sucumbíos, as these are the districts in which the president justified the declaration. , says the resolution of the Court, so it can no longer be extended to other provinces, as the president left the possibility open.

Soledad Espinoza, a mother from the suburb, also considers it vital that the military remain in the streets. She explains that in her sector almost daily she has seen the control carried out by the uniformed (police and military) at the descent of the bridge from Calle 4 de Noviembre.

“It gives me some peace of mind because even in the early morning I look out and see them on the corner stopping the cars. The president should be here confronting those decisions and looking for a way for the military to continue in the operations, the state of exception is more than justified. We cannot normalize the killing in prisons and on the streets, ”says Espinoza.

Ensign Omar Toapanta was in charge of the operations in the suburb this Friday, who mentions that they have not yet been notified that they will only carry out operations until November 18. As of 11:00, the military had searched more than 30 cars on Calle 4 de Noviembre with the help of cannon Rony, trained to detect drugs.

The Government of Guayas this week announced that during the state of exception, from October 19 to November 3, the operations achieved the arrest of 642 people for different crimes, 97 firearms, 59 knives, 16 dismantled gangs. , 34 recovered cars, 181 recovered motorcycles, and the seizure of 1.7 tons of drugs, only in the province.

In addition, the Constitutional Court specified last October 6 that the prison emergency was constitutional only if the Armed Forces were limited to external control of the prisons, forcing them to leave their interior and leaving only the Police and prison guides.

Before this decision there were those who were alarmed, because they consider that the police should enter the pavilions accompanied by the military, especially when there are riots.

“It’s for security, we all know that the prisoners are more armed than the police and leaving only the police and the unarmed guides inside is crazy. I think they should oust the guides and that the military take over the prisons, “believes Franklin Avilés, who this Friday was at the Modelo barracks waiting for a relative who filed a robbery complaint.

According to figures from the National Police, since the state of emergency began (from October 18 to November 5) there have been 115 violent deaths nationwide, despite the fact that the military took to the streets. As of this November 5, 2,000 murders had been registered nationwide. Last year, in the same period, there were 1,090 cases.

Lasso ‘respects’ the decision of the Constitutional

President Guillermo Lasso has assured this Friday in Madrid that as a “democrat he respects” the ruling of the Constitutional Court that limits the state of emergency to one month and has refused to clarify whether he will renew it, waiting to see its “results” .

“I am a democrat who respects the institutionality, regardless of whether or not I share (the decision),” said Lasso, in an interview with Europa Press, in which he said “respect” the position of the judges.

The president now has in his hand to propose a new extension to the Constitutional Court, which has pointed out that it must be duly justified, but Lasso has avoided ruling in this regard.

“At the moment we have not thought about it,” he asserted, waiting for the “end of 30 days” and to analyze some results that, for now, are “positive”.

The Court ordered the president, once the state of emergency expires, to send the corresponding report to the Constitutional Court stating the following: the specific measures adopted to overcome the crisis due to the overflow of criminal acts; and the measures that will be adopted in the short, medium and long term in order to strengthen the internal security system.

Finally, it ordered that the Ombudsman’s Office monitor the actions that correspond to the state of exception and report on the matter to the Constitutional Court. (I)