Now that the Council for Citizen Participation and Social Control (CCCCS) is in vogue, I want to remind you of some outstanding issues of this institution. What I am saying is not because I believe that before it was worse and now we are better; No, no, no, dear reader friend, I have come to remove that layer of memory that has hardened in our short-term memory.

The idea of ​​ordinary people appointing our oversight bodies, in theory, sounded like a masterpiece, worthy of the genius of participatory democracy. However, in the end it became a breeding ground for utopias, self-centeredness, dubious names and fantasies; chimerical proposals that have become unsustainable and useless, and which are again in the eye of the hurricane.

With these words, I want to remember how, in football terms, goals are scored from the middle of the field. We complained for a while, but in this beautiful country in constant change and excitement, they give us a penalty without fail and we have to criticize again. Because the politicians score us an own goal and blame the ball boy, turning the match of our lives into a desperate cry of “let’s equalize, Calceta!”

We appointed incumbents who held office for five years, when the constitutional term after winning the competition is six years. That is, they are there, leaving aside the meritocracy and dreams of participatory democracy of the CPCCS.

Will we continue to allow the constitutional act to be distorted and abused…?

Let’s look at the example of Ángel Torres Machuca, the responsible national public defender, appointed since 2018, a name that was unknown because in the national competition for public defenders he got position 137 in the province of Pichincha. This means that 136 people in Pichincha alone had more abilities than him. However, he has been a state defender for five years, without highlighting or questioning, while he holds this position with a team whose merits are also unknown, and what’s worst is with the report to the Prosecutor’s Office, which has put to sleep the justice, and the “precautionary measure” that should be temporary, but this competent authority obtained it without time, and it should protect rights, and not be a precursor to the abuse of a constitutional lawsuit, because it was obtained between “the rooster and midnight”, in some canton that you probably don’t even know.

The last controller who came through the tender, when was it? Has the ombudsman already been elected? I could go on and on about the powers that have been thrust upon us without us noticing, in this failed version of participatory democracy. This makes me wonder: Is the country aware that CPCCS was the perfect opportunity to be a world leader in participation? Or, as in the case of extradition, have we been overwhelmed by the unpleasant aroma of this Government, which is now running out and we do not see the great potential that we possess? Will we continue to allow them to distort and abuse constitutional acts that now seem to be a trick to interrupt processes or perpetuate themselves in undeserved positions? (OR)