Up to $10,000 is paid for giving information that leads to the capture of one of the 141 defendants who are on the most wanted lists in Ecuador

The Most Wanted program is still in force with three nationwide listings, which are included the defendants who obtain the highest rating according to the type and circumstances of the act for which they are held responsible.

Added to the list of the most wanted for crimes of public action (murder, manslaughter, drug trafficking, and others) are those accused of gender-based violence (femicide, rape) and those accused of corruption (embezzlement). .

Up to 20 people required by law can go on each of the three lists, as long as they accumulate the necessary points to be on them.

Hence, 37 appear at the national level (20 for gender-based violence, 13 for crimes of public action and 4 for corruption). To these are added 104 that are on the provincial lists of Guayas (13), Pichincha (11), Chimborazo (11), Manabí (10), Tungurahua (10), Azuay (8), Cañar (6), Los Ríos ( 6), El Oro (5), Santo Domingo (5), Loja (4), Bolívar (3), Esmeraldas (3), Imbabura (3), Carchi (2), Cotopaxi (2), Pastaza (1) and Santa Elena (1), wanted because they committed the crimes in those territories. Only these provinces currently have approved listings.

The reward in exchange for precise information on the whereabouts of these individuals ranges from $1,000 to $10,000, an amount that depends on the fugitive, his level of danger, the place where he is hidden, among other considerations, says José Villacís Bonilla, head of the Unit for the Detention of Highly Dangerous Persons Required by Law (UNDPAP), in charge of the Most Wanted program. “There is a negotiation process with the person who provides information and after reaching an agreement, the payment is approved.”

But during the last year there is evidence of a decrease in citizen support with complaints to 1800-335486 (crime), indicates Villacís. “Last year there have not been many complaints. We do not know exactly how to interpret this reaction, but we do still have people who denounce and what we do through investigation techniques is to start the search for the location and the subsequent capture.

Fernando Altamirano, lawyer and professor at SEK International University, affirms that Fear due to the perception of insecurity in the face of massacres that have occurred in prisons and outside of them may be a reason for not denouncing a most wanted person, as well as the possibility that the accused may take revenge upon learning who betrayed him..

“These defendants have a reserved location, it is not exposed, so those who denounce (generally) are the people who are close to them… But as it is mentioned within the vulgar, the messenger must be killed, so of course, Obviously, there is fear within society when denouncing, at least in the matter of aggression and femicide there is an even more parental bond. Family members even know where the (prosecuted) person is, but they do not report it out of fear, in the same way it happens with other crimes, “says the specialist.

However, Villacís assures that there is total confidentiality. “All the police know that we have management protocols for collaborators, so we never make their identity public, that is kept absolutely confidential. Even when the negotiation for the reward payment is carried out, security is guaranteed.” This is part of the ethical management of state resources, he adds.

The social commotion caused by an event is one of the reasons that are taken into account when qualifying and including someone in the list of the most wanted. This is the case of Elías P., who is considered allegedly responsible for femicide when he murdered his partner, Noelia Vargas Parrales, with a firearm (pistol), in January 2020 in Flor de Bastión, in the northwest of Guayaquil. He then dismembered the body and placed the parts in various sacks.

Or those accused of murdering Olga Cruz Fuentes, 68, and Estefanía Egas Cruz, 24 (mother and daughter), as indicated by the police report. The bodies were found on September 26, 2018 in the house of both, inside the Las Riveras de La Puntilla urbanization, in Samborondón.

One of the alleged perpetrators was Jeffersson M., arrested last May and who was the third most wanted in Guayas. “Within the investigative process”, indicates the part, it was determined that the reason for the double crime was the collection of an inheritance by another of the daughters of the murdered mother.

Former police officer William R. (separated from the police ranks since October 2015) is on the run for this fact and is the fifth most wanted nationally. He had a romantic relationship with the accused daughter.

Villacís says that the level of violence and the cases of corruption that cause a national commotion led to expanding the lists with the aim of “combating impunity.”

Those included in the Most Wanted program are prosecuted for having sentences issued by the courts with sentences of deprivation of liberty ranging from 5 years for crimes against property with aggravating circumstances up to 40 years of extraordinary imprisonment for crimes against life (murder or hitman), sexual, illegal possession of weapons, drugs, among others.

A National Technical Commission, chaired by the Minister of Government or his delegate, approves inclusion in the program, says Altamirano. “There has to be an arrest warrant, preventive detention, an order to summon to trial or a final sentence.”

The level of violence that demonstrates a psychological disorder, the weapon used are parameters that are analyzed. There is a score sheet and manuals. “It is not only the number of crimes, but also the circumstances,” says Villacís.

One condition is that they have an arrest warrant or final judgment, that is, there must be a link on the part of the judicial authority.

Most of those included are found outside the city where they committed the crimes, either in a rural area or in cities in other provinces.

In addition to the 141 from the Most Wanted program, they are also in charge of locating the other defendants considered highly dangerous for committing murder, homicide, contract killing or femicide.

The UNDPAP detained 32 of the most wanted since 2021 and 91 required for their high danger, a total of 123. They come off the lists. The commissions meet every month to update the information.

“Some of them have been armed (at the time of arrest), so we have had to confront them with neutralization techniques without the supplied weapon. We operate with the tactical teams of the Police”, assures Villacís.

One of the problems regarding the fact that citizens do not help in locating the most wanted, says Fernando Samaniego, a passive police officer and security analyst, is that there is a lack of trust in the ECU911 operators who answer the calls and in certain members of the Police who are involved in criminal acts.

“When denouncing they ask for the phone number, they get all the information possible. In trials, the freedom of the detainee can be determined. Lawyers use tricks in the defense of these defendants. They take the short cut method so they get 25% of the penalty. Apart they fulfill half and are out. It all adds up to there being no peace,” says Samaniego.

The lists of the most wanted (full name, photograph of the face and the crime of which he is accused) are published on social networks and on the websites of the National Police and the Ministry of Government. They are also in the country’s Community Surveillance Units. Ten years ago there was a larger budget to promote rewards on television in exchange for effective information leading to location. Even photos of some of them were on the rear windows of public transport buses.

Altamirano points out that this diffusion was more evident in the past and has now been left aside. “Perhaps it has to do with the issue of the violation of privacy, because obviously the subject is exhibited before society.” (I)