More than 2,000 minors were arrested in one year in Ecuador for different crimes

At 17 years old, Jostin C. has already been arrested four times. He is involved in extortion crimes under the modality of the so-called ‘vaccines’, which consists of asking for money in exchange for supposed protection or not directly attacking the potential victim.

The ECU911 video surveillance cameras have captured the minor shooting at commercial premises, to which he would charge values ​​later.

The President of Ecuador, Guillermo Lasso, published on his Twitter account Photographs of the detainee whom he identified as a “highly dangerous subject.”

From January 1 to December 31, 2022, the Police arrested 2,101 minors for being involved in different illegal activities. This represents 3% of all detainees nationally.

However, the current law does not allow them to be prosecuted, despite the fact that several have been involved in violent deaths, terrorist acts, robberies, among other crimes.

The crime most committed by minors is robbery, in all of 2022, 397 cases were registered, followed by substance trafficking, with 299; and for possession and carrying of weapons, with 287 arrests.

On January 24, Fausto Olivo, general director of Investigation, pointed out that within an operation that allowed the arrest of members of the Chone Killers gang, linked to murders and attacks on police officers, they identified ten minors in the investigations.

But he said that they were not imprisoned because the legislation requires the isolation of minors only when they are arrested in flagrante delicto or when charges have already been filed.

10 adolescents involved in the murder of police officers and attacks in Durán were not detained due to restrictions in the law

“Ten minors who are being used by organized crime groups to commit these murders and these attacks with explosives. We regret that our youth is used by these groups, it is a call to attention to society to work on the recovery of these minors,” Olivo emphasized.

To counteract this and other problems, the National Assembly approved at the beginning of January the Organic Law to Reform Various Legal Bodies for the Strengthening of Institutional Capacities and Comprehensive Security, which, among other things, toughens the penalties for so-called ‘vaccines’, it proposes a restructuring of the prison system and addresses issues of both citizen security and national defense.

The sanction or veto of the Executive is expected from the project in 30 days.

The Minister of the Interior, Juan Zapata, said that in the reforms to the law they will seek that minors who are involved in issues of hit men and organized crime do not have the same treatment as a minor who has nothing to do with this type of crimes.

Also that the same be done with those who recruit minors to involve them in these crimes.

According to the Ministry of the Interior, during the state of emergency that was in force from November 1 to December 15, 2022, 133 minors were detained: 74 in the Metropolitan District of Guayaquil; 37 in Esmeraldas; 12 of Santo Domingo de los Tsáchilas; and 10 in Guayas.

They were isolated, not prosecuted. In these arrests, the most common crime was the possession and carrying of weapons, with 33 cases.

Police prepare a uniform that will contain a QR code and badge for greater identification in cases of false agents who commit crimes

For the professor of the Institute of Higher National Studies (IAEN) Daniel Pontón, it is necessary to start a series of debates, to reach a consensus on the issue of sanctioning minors who commit crimes such as assassination or terrorist acts.

This, he pointed out, should be taken with the necessary care to “not want to criminalize everything.”

For Pontón, the entire justice system must go through a debate, with this, define all the edges that are not addressing the security problems in the country. For example, he cited that there is also an abuse of protection actions, habeas corpus, among other resources.

Finally, he said that the other problem is the prisons, because, in his opinion, it will be useless to modify the laws without a true system of social rehabilitation. “Without that, it is difficult to generate help for offenders, it is supposed that going to jail would be the final solution, but we have seen that everything gets worse there,” he added. (YO)