Pablo Arosemena: In Guayas, in addition to drug trafficking, we have the problem of a large consumer market

In addition to the political situation, the governor of Guayas, Pablo Arosemena, has another front to attend to: insecurity. The representative of the Executive in this province, which suffers a wave of violence in the streets and in prisons, assures that more than 80% of violent deaths are related to drug trafficking, which must be seen as a common enemy. For this reason, he justifies, the decision has been made to militarize the port.

Arosemena, who has been in the Interior for five weeks, talks about implementing solutions that survive after the 60-day state of exception decreed by President Guillermo Lasso on October 18.

Why, if drug trafficking is a national problem, are the consequences suffered much more in Guayaquil and Durán?

I say it in one word: port. When you see the crime map in Guayaquil and each red dot marked there means a violent death, as you go south that map gets redder. What is going on there? There is the port, the drug leaves there, that is why we make the causal link. The effect is insecurity, anxiety, crime; the cause is drug trafficking.

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What must be done then so that the measure of militarizing the port is not a patch solution?

There are many things to do, from strengthening the security structure of the port of Guayaquil to controlling the sea lane. That is key, because the drug goes in and out there. And there are other things that are being done that will exceed the validity of the state of exception, such as the strengthening of prison security.

What is going to be done on this issue that is also critical and that, according to security experts, is related to violence in the streets?

There is an allocation of $ 85 million for the prison system. The Guayaquil prison complex will have metal detectors, for the first time a cargo scanner will be installed, everything that enters trucks, such as food, will have to go through that large detector. That takes months to manufacture and be imported, but the state of emergency, with the mobilization of resources, will allow us to have it before the end of the year.

It is criticized that the government does not have true control of the prison.

The prison issue is a priority for this Government. Before the last revolt I had already gone to jail, I was there with Fausto Cobo to follow up on the issue of infrastructure. And here I want to tell you something: before the state of emergency, the state of prison emergency was declared; Days after that, the Constitutional Court issued a resolution withdrawing the Armed Forces from the prison system. They were inside, helping the SNAI guards, but that resolution limits the military to the outer perimeter. I hope you can review that decision; they are needed inside, not outside.

But another problem is that prison guides are lacking.

Yes, and they are being trained, but there we have another fundamental problem: the current legislation disarms them, the prison guides cannot be armed. Controlling unarmed prisoners is difficult; and if it turns out that the prisoners do have weapons, then it becomes impossible. That is the structural problem in terms of guides, that we have laws from the past. I agree with what people say about showing the face and identification of the detainees, but the law does not allow it; I agree that drug traffickers trapped in Ecuador can be extradited to the United States, but all of that depends on reforms made by the Assembly, not the Government.

But the president, as co-legislator, can push for those reforms to take place.

Well, in fact, he’s working on a big bill to strengthen security. But what it has done immediately is to give it the support of the State, for the legal defense, of the public force servants who act in compliance with their duty. If tomorrow they are unfairly prosecuted, the State will put money and lawyers for their legal defense.

Do you feel that the situation overwhelms you at times?

We like to raise a face, it is what this Government is doing, we are solving problems that others have created. We had a base in Manta whose objective was to fight drug trafficking, and Rafael Correa eliminated it to unleash drug trafficking. We had radars in Montecristi and Santa Elena, and their government looked the other way, dealt with the mafias and gave the drug planes an open trail. So, now comes a government that puts radars where there was nothing and has reactions, because we are giving them where it hurts the most, which is in their pocket.

What is expected in Guayas with this state of exception?

What is being achieved: return security to citizens. In the first week, from October 19 to 25, 11,147 operations were carried out in Guayas, more than 86,000 people and more than 70,000 vehicles were registered.

And what has been the impact?

The impact has been 220 people arrested for crimes, 544 motorcycles retained, 1,647 ammunition (bullets) confiscated, more than 50 explosives, 3 drones that were intended to be used to enter the penitentiary by air. We have dismantled seven large criminal gangs linked to drug trafficking. This is being achieved thanks to the joint work between the Police and the Armed Forces.

There are complaints that the military is not seen on the streets.

The military are in critical places (due to a security strategy the location cannot be revealed), but what can be expected within the next few days in this state of exception? Still much more force and more presence of the State in the streets. Eleven thousand operations (which have already been carried out) cannot hide under the stones, but it will be felt much more. As the days go by, the work is better calibrated, even many municipalities in the province are supporting with a logistics contingent and in other ways, and that is good because this war against drug trafficking must unite us all, not just the governments at all levels, also to citizens.

And what can citizens do?

In 30 days in the Government we have developed 26 citizen workshops. It is not that the Government receives people and gives them a conference. The Government goes to a neighborhood, for example, we have gone to the Suburb Battalion, Mount Sinaí, Popular Bastion, Cooperativa Luz del Guayas, and we are going to listen to the people, because community management is key to security.

What they say?

People say: “Governor, I have these lights that have not turned on for four years and that generates anxiety and insecurity”; then, in 24 or 48 hours, where before there was darkness, we put the light on. We make sure that the Electric Company makes the change of lights. We do that every day in the neighborhoods of Guayaquil and the other cantons of Guayas.

We have seen it uploaded to a ring boxing …

Yes (laughs), that was in Malvinas, they invited me, that is part of the social, sporting and cultural issues that we must look at. For many years I have had a good friendship with the leader of this sector, who is Carlos Gruezo. Since union days (Arosemena was president of the Chamber of Commerce) I had already started boxing with him in the street and now we had some good stops in the ring that they now have there. He does a good job of raising the boys of the sector. When today we say that we have a big problem like drug trafficking, sport is a good way to avoid that negative spiral that leads to consumption, it is a good way that takes you where you want to go. The one who is a consumer today, about four or five years ago was a boy who may not have had opportunities.

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President Lasso spoke of plans to rescue those already immersed in consumption. What is the idea?

Plans range from prevention to rehabilitation. The Rescate Ecuador security plan is named for two pillars: the rescue of citizen security, with the Police and Armed Forces doing fixed and mobile operations, but the other pillar is the part of public health, because drug trafficking also throws us a problem in that sense. Guayas not only has a traffic problem, it also has a great consumer problem. From a brick of cocaine, which internationally they get $ 30,000, here they get more than double (when mixed with other substances to make drugs such as H). There is a micro-trafficking market because there are consumers. So, we have an insecurity problem, on the one hand, and a great public health problem, on the other hand. (I)