The project must first obtain a favorable report from the Legislative Technical Unit before its qualification in the Legislative Administration Council.
In the National Assembly, a bill was presented that will allow the downing of aircraft that carry out tasks related to drug trafficking, that enter the national airspace without a flight plan or that do not observe the approved plan.
The initiative was presented by the legislator of the Democratic Left, Johanna Moreira, who considers that it is necessary to prioritize the construction of a norm that adjusts to the new criminal realities committed in Ecuador such as drug trafficking, taking into account that there are legal limitations, to carry out control and surveillance and even the sanction on the construction of illegal tracks in various parts of the country.
According to the proponent, currently, the Armed Forces and especially the Ecuadorian Air Force (FAE) have their hands tied, there is no law that allows or prohibits the use of force in any aircraft that is flying without authorization, flight plan , without contact, in a hostile way or illegally in Ecuador.
At the moment and under the current Ecuadorian legal norm, the demolition can only be carried out during an armed conflict or international crisis and while there is a threat to the sovereignty of the State. However, in order to combat international organized crime, several countries developed regulations that allow them to act with their Air Forces.
More and more drug planes arrive in the country because the laws protect the pilots
Before proceeding to shoot down an aircraft, according to the proposal, at least twelve parameters must be checked on the circumstances in which it enters the national airspace related to authorization, identification, communication with the aircraft. Only there, can it be declared that it is a hostile aircraft, and it may be subject to the use of force through persuasion or neutralization and even proceed to shoot down. Also a drone can be declared as hostile aircraft.
Once all the measures of persuasion towards the aircraft are exhausted, by radio and signage, use of tracer ammunition, it will be shot down with a direct shot on it in order to cause damage that prevents the continuation of the flight. Once the aircraft is shot down, its confirmation will be sent to the National Police, State Attorney General’s Office and Criminalistics, for the procedures of the Law, according to the content of the proposal.
As justification for presenting the project, it is indicated that according to a statistical table of the National Anti-Narcotics Directorate (DNA), between the years 2012 and April 2021, 26 drug planes were captured in Ecuadorian territory, with 104 detainees.
In the proposal, the legislator Moreira indicates that a law is needed that allows the identification of an irregular aircraft, the interception and even the downing of it, as a final action on our sovereignty; sent a clear message to those criminal groups in the country, especially to Mexican and Colombian cartels operating in Ecuador.
These regulations will have to combine concepts, international protocols for the interception and demolition process, phases of the process and institutions that would have to intervene and the mechanisms that would be needed so that the FAE can combat these aircraft belonging to organized crime and that can being involved in various crimes, such as transporting illicit substances, arms trafficking, human trafficking and smuggling, transporting money or securities, among others.
With this standard, the Ecuadorian Air Internal Security System will also be reinforced, which will work on the surveillance, identification, persuasion, and demolition of illegal aircraft within the Ecuadorian airspace, as well as existing communications and the repowering of radars.
The legislator insists that this Law is exhaustive, but that at bottom it is a dissuasive action, which will seek in the first instance, to intercept and neutralize any unidentified aircraft within the national territory in order to combat organized crime, an important action will be the use of visual tracer ammunition, and only in the last instance will the demolition order be given. This regulation in the regional part has been approved by 7 countries and in the case of Colombia it has been in force since 1993. (I)
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