In the northern judicial district of Guayaquil, better known as La Florida, there is a strange piece of engineering: towers of stairs that lead nowhere. When these grounds were built, the escape stairs were never connected to the buildings, they remained like strange appendages with no other function than to serve as a shelter for stray cats. Emergency stairs that are just a decoration, connected to nothing and leading to nothing. And yet, despite their lack of functionality, these blind stairs are actually a perfect metaphor for our justice system, becoming such a small monument that poetically articulates what it means to litigate in that same Court Unit.

The supervisor’s office warns of “indications of criminal responsibility” in the property declarations of ten judges that were sent to the Prosecutor’s Office

The National Court is awaiting a competition to fill the vacant positions of six judges and fourteen assistant judges; the last additions were in 2021

Litigation before a corrupt judge is nothing more than a pantomime, an absurd show. A negotiating judge pretends to hear arguments, pretends to analyze evidence, and pretends to deliver justice. But like those blind stairs, these judges are nothing more than appearances, mere travesties. The punishment they impose is not explained, but goes in favor of the one who offered the most. To make matters worse, when these judges are exposed, the perversion of justice only continues, as they use godfathers and rely on other corrupt officials to hold onto their positions. Even after being dismissed, these criminal judges repeatedly return to their posts with absurd constitutional lawsuits, cynically claiming that in reality their rights have been violated. This is how devious judges work, believing that since Ecuador is a country of impunity and who cares, they will be able to continue selling their punishments without anything happening. And so justice, one of the highest ideals of human beings, is reduced to a sad antics.

They believe that sponsors and bribes will prevent the justice that they mocked so much from falling upon them.

Samson Uwaifo, a former judge of the Nigerian Supreme Court, famously said that “a corrupt judge is more dangerous to society than a madman with a knife running down a crowded street.” This is not an exaggeration. Corruption in our justice system is not a problem that affects only us lawyers, but is at the root of many serious problems that affect our nation. Corrupt judges are those who let criminals and murderers go, those who allow the great robbery of the state treasury to go unpunished, and those who, with their permission, allow corrupt businessmen and politicians to trample on the honest citizens of our republic with impunity. All this without mentioning the disastrous effect of corruption in the judiciary on foreign investments, which our economy desperately needs.

But corrupt judges are wrong. They believe that sponsors and bribes will prevent the justice that they mocked so much from falling upon them. However, more and more decent citizens are ready to oppose judicial mafias. Ecuador urgently needs a purge that will make the headless referees headless. It’s time to come together to make it happen. (OR)