Carlos Jijón, the presidential spokesman, said that robberies and murders have been reduced and that 1,000 soldiers are in the Penitentiary currently on alert.
Although citizens say they have not felt the military presence in the streets as they expected after the declaration of a state of emergency, the authorities use figures from the Police to ensure that the controls have given good results and have lowered thefts by 27% and violent deaths by almost 40% compared to the first months of the year.
Guillermo Lasso’s government spokesman, Carlos Jijón, commented that it is essential to keep the Armed Forces in the streets to continue lowering the crime rate, but clarified that the state of emergency cannot be renewed indefinitely, as the President, but only once, as Lasso did on Thursday 18 when the first term ended.
Jijón also pointed out that two states of exception are currently in force: the one that was renewed this Thursday and will be in force until December 19 in nine provinces and the other, which would be in force until November 29 and that allows the Armed Forces to collaborate in control of prisons, under the parameters of the Constitutional Court.
The spokesperson explained that from Monday there would be 1,000 soldiers who are guarding the Litoral Penitentiary, where 62 inmates were killed a week ago.
There are 1,000 troops who took full control of the Penitentiary, control of death row and destroyed, until Thursday, 40 sentry boxes built by the inmates. The Armed Forces are in perimeter 3, they carry out a very important effective control ”, added the spokesman for the Presidency, who assured that in the rest of the prisons there is also control of the Armed Forces.
Meanwhile, there is a new threat that warns. The Armed Forces were notified by the National Police that there would be information on new riots that would be enlisted in the next few days. An official statement indicates that the leaders of Los Choneros have ordered the inmates to be ready to start riots as a result of possible transfers.
The Police and the Armed Forces are not only preparing for possible riots, but also for attacks on their units and the increase in murders in the streets (selective crimes).
Threatening messages coming out of prisons
Before the messages that circulate on social networks, attributed to Mexican cartels and that indicate that the massacres will continue, Jijón responded: “I have seen with concern waves of messages that would have political objectives, to cause a commotion, to scare people, but it seems that are trolls to instill fear ”.
The governor of Guayas, Pablo Arosemena, said this Friday that during the 30 days that the first state of exception lasted, 409,000 people and 357,000 vehicles were registered in the province of Guayas.
From October 18 to November 18, in Guayas 1,136 people were arrested for various crimes, 28 gangs were dismantled. Likewise, 202 firearms and 77 knives were seized. In addition, 16 tons of drugs were seized nationwide during the first state of emergency.
In the province of Los Ríos there is concern about the rise in crime, so there was uncertainty about the declaration of a new state of exception that would allow the military to carry out controls in the streets and counteract the crime figures.
Laws to attack drug trafficking
The Legislative Administration Council (CAL) granted a period of seven days to the Justice, Constitutional Guarantees and Comprehensive Security commissions to present a work schedule in which the processing of bills related to State security is prioritized. , citizen security, social rehabilitation.
The decision was made on the night of November 18, when that administrative body of Parliament determined as a high priority the treatment of all bills related to social security and rehabilitation and related matters.
The project seeks to expand the scope of authorship by organizational domain, facilitate the auction of seized assets to criminals linked to drug trafficking, money laundering, reform the structure of the National Service for Attention to Persons Deprived of Liberty and expand the regulations on the progressive use of force. (I)
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