The state of exception ends and there is concern in the provinces

Until the early hours of this Thursday 18 there were operations between the police and the military in the south of Guayaquil, but as of 10:00 there were no more uniformed members of the Armed Forces in the streets and the Police awaited indications to retake the controls. This is due to the end of the state of exception due to the upsurge in violence.

The measure, aimed at nine provinces, was due to end on December 18, but the Constitutional Court, in its power to review the decrees that the President of the Republic issues for such purposes, decided to lower their validity by half, without prejudice to the fact that the Executive may dictate another, as Guillermo Lasso has already warned after the last massacre at the Litoral Penitentiary.

However, the governor of Guayas, Pablo Arosemena, said in a discussion that despite the end of the state of exception, the military would continue in the streets carrying out arms, ammunition and explosives control operations.

Arosemena assured that a presidential decree is not necessary for these operations to be carried out, which in 30 days, only in Guayas, have allowed the registration of 409,000 people and 357,000 vehicles.

In a month that the state of exception lasted, in Guayas 1,136 people were arrested for different crimes, 28 gangs were dismantled, 202 firearms and 77 knives were seized. In addition, 82 stolen cars were recovered and 391 motorcycles were seized.

Arosemena added that the number of robberies, in all its forms, has decreased this year, which did not happen with murder, a crime that has almost doubled compared to last year.

So far in 2021, the number of violent deaths in Zone 8 (Guayaquil, Durán and Samborondón) already exceeds 580 cases. In Zone 5 (rest of Guayas) it exceeds 210 cases.

Worry

The end of the state of emergency worries the inhabitants of Los Ríos, a province that has seen a growing wave of violence.

For this reason, following up on pending agreements between the autonomous governments with the central one, on security issues, is the main objective of the Los Ríos Provincial Committee for Citizen Security.

Here we will seek to promote the participation of the citizen security brigades in conjunction with the chiefs, political lieutenants and police commissioners. Another decision was the creation of the Provincial Specialized Technical Board to design a security strengthening plan.

These and other resolutions will be implemented in the thirteen cantons of this Rio de Janeiro territory, where there is fear that criminal and criminal acts will increase.

Manuel Linares, Quevedeño businessman dedicated to the sale of construction materials, states that the robberies never stopped during the 30 days that the state of emergency lasted. Several of his friends were victims of assaults, despite the fact that the military carried out operations at the entrances and exits of the cantons.

“We are clear about the work of the military in the streets, which is the control of arms and ammunition, but sometimes their presence generates more confidence in the citizen, although the criminals did not even stop doing their misdeeds.”

The Police have stated that the crimes that have occurred in Los Ríos have been deaths directed by members of criminal organizations that fight for the territory and the sale of controlled substances.

“Our job is to maintain order in each population and capture those who commit crimes, the judicial system is the one that carries out the investigation and sentencing processes, as well as determines the situation of the detainees,” said the commander of the Special Zone of Los Ríos, Renato Cevallos.

In Los Ríos there are more than 150 crimes registered so far this year, compared to the 61 that occurred in 2020.

The latest hitman-style crime occurred yesterday in the Ventanas canton, where two men on a motorcycle shot and killed a man on his way to work.

Military will continue in prisons

The governor of Guayas, Pablo Arosemena, assured that the members of the Armed Forces will continue in the outer perimeter of the Guayaquil jail, the only sector where the Constitutional Court guarantees that they are in the framework of the prison emergency, which was decreed before the state of exception.

In Manabí, the jurist and former Assemblyman Guillermo Celi agrees with the government’s initiative to promote a pacification process in prisons. “We must take care of everyone’s life, that is why the support of friendly countries in the fight against crime is very important and overcrowding must be reduced as soon as possible.”

It also considers that automatic mechanisms should be established to pardon those who have served more than 60% of their sentence, with the exception of those convicted of murder, kidnapping, drugs and rape.

“We must give resources to the judicial system through the Prosecutor’s Office and the judges to expedite criminal proceedings because it is unfortunate what happened in prisons, where even those who did not even have a trial have been killed,” said the former assemblyman. (I)