The two provinces are part of the nine mentioned in the state of emergency decree.
“I could no longer sleep peacefully. In my house we are going to put an electric fence for safety, because several neighbors have had their gas tanks stolen and other things that they have left in their yards. Thieves have yet to break into the rooms. The robberies have happened in the early morning and people realize it in the morning. It’s scary. Police do few rounds”.
This is how Susana (protected name) describes the insecurity that exists in the neighborhood where it lives, located in the north of Quito. She says that the robberies from homes, and even from people walking on the streets, began this year. Before your neighborhood was quietsays Susana.
According to the State Attorney General’s Office (FGE), robberies are the predominant crimes. On a national scale, according to figures from the Prosecutor’s Office and the Ministry of Government, between January and August 2021 there were 39,170 cases, which include robberies of people, homes, vehicles, motorcycles, economic units, and property accessories and auto parts.
Violent deaths and robberies increased this year in coastal provinces that now have military control
That figure represents an increase of 30% if it is compared with the 30,130 robberies in the same period of 2020. Crimes against persons are the ones that have increased the most.
Beyond the official statistics, daily in the media and social networks are exposed videos and photographs of the violence that is experienced in the streets of the country. Some cases are more serious than others. And they don’t just show up in impoverished neighborhoods, but also in places that are or were, apparently, less dangerous.
As to intentional homicidess, the records of the Ministry of Government confirm that this year there have been more deaths of this type. While from January to September 2020 there were 919, for the same period of 2021 homicides grew to 1,753.
State of exception: Guillermo Lasso tells police officers that the government supports them and will assume their legal defense
Hundreds of lives are purposely cut off. Only last September there were 320 homicides, which represents an interannual variation of 204.8%.
Increased insecurity was what motivated the Government to declare a state of exception, on October 18, through Executive Decree 224. In the provinces of Pichincha, Santo Domingo de los Tsáchilas, Guayas, Esmeraldas, Santa Elena, Manabí, Los Ríos, Sucumbíos and El Oro there is the provision that military and police mobilize.
In Pichincha, robbery of people predominates. Whether in public transport, in a private vehicle, walking down the street, strolling in the park or staying at home, the feeling of insecurity is constant.
“When I go on the bus I avoid taking out my cell phone, because I don’t know if that time someone will take it away from me. Although they still robbed me when I had the phone stored in my backpack. I didn’t realize it until I got off the bus and saw my suitcase cut up. That feeling of helplessness is horrible ”, narrates Marco (protected name), who was a victim in June of this year, when he was going to a commercial center in the south of Quito.
What does the state of exception against crime mean in Ecuador?
In Pichincha, the theft from people, as well as accessory goods and auto parts, has skyrocketed. Of the first crime, 3,743 cases are currently registered, when last year there were 2,941. The second offense went from 814 events, in 2020, to 1,082, in 2021.
Homicides rose in three cases from January to September compared to the previous year. However, when analyzing the monthly data, it is observed that in January and February 2020 there were more crimes. In March the figures for the two years were the same. But in April the trend was reversed and more deaths were reported in 2021, the same happened in the months of May, June and September. And in August 2021 there were fewer deaths than in the same month of the previous year.
Instead, in Santo Domingo de los Tsáchilas robberies increased 24% compared to last year and intentional homicides increased 79%. From January to September 2020 there were 24 deaths and in 2021 43 are reported, according to data from the Ministry of Government.
Several of the robbery cases have been recorded on video and have gone viral. In one of those you see a woman wearing a red folder under her right arm and check your phone in front of the door of a business premises. She is seen standing in a makeshift alley, because work is being done on the road.
A few meters away, in the same alley, a man walks in the direction of the woman, who was still staring at the phone. He approaches her. Quickly, the subject takes from his back what looks like a knife, to intimidate his victim and snatch his cell phone. With the device in his hands, he leaves at a leisurely pace where he entered.
Two people witnessed this, a man and a woman, who were walking through the site and who were left still by the impression of what they had just witnessed, while the thief passed by.
Everything was recorded in the 14 second video from a security camera, which was broadcast on October 22 by radio Mega News, from Santo Domingo de los Tsáchilas. The robbery occurred in the La Virgen roundabout sector, according to the local media report.
The most frequent thefts, and with the highest growth between 2020 and 2021, are those committed against people, homes and vehicles. Meanwhile, homicides had a greater rebound in March, April and September of this year. (I)
Mario Twitchell is an accomplished author and journalist, known for his insightful and thought-provoking writing on a wide range of topics including general and opinion. He currently works as a writer at 247 news agency, where he has established himself as a respected voice in the industry.
