Metastasis case: Judge Ronald G., who ordered Byron Castillo to register as Ecuadorian, is among 29 detainees

The State Attorney’s Office and the National Police, with 900 members of both institutions, carried out raids in seven provinces of the country early last Thursday for the investigation that is being carried out after the murder of Leandro Norer. He was prosecuted for money laundering and was killed in Latacunga prison.

The investigation was initiated by the Prosecutor’s Office due to the alleged criminal offense of organized crime involving officials and former officials with entities connected to criminal groups. Wilman Terán, president of the National Judicial Council, is among the 29 people being investigated.

Officials of the provincial courts, the Judicial Council of Guayas, Cotopaxi, Santo Domingo del los Tsáchilas and Manabí, the National Police and the SNAI, as well as freelance lawyers and leaders of the criminal structure, were arrested. There are judges, prosecutors, police officers and prison guards detained as part of the investigation promoted by prosecutor Diana Salazar.

Judge Ronald G.

Among the homes searched in Guayaquil is that of former criminal bail judge Ronald G. He was arrested for his alleged involvement in the crime under investigation. In relation to the arrested person, evidence such as mobile phones and other things are brought up. Prosecutor Salazar said that as a result of the investigation into Norero’s death, there were signs of a network embedded in the powers of the state and linked to drug trafficking.

Ronald G. in Byron Castillo’s case has been mentioned continuously since 2021. The real nationality of the footballer, who does not have a team today, has been questionable since July 28, 2015, when Emelec decided to terminate the contract because after the club’s investigation determined that Castillo was not born in Ecuador. “Among other questions related to his childhood, he did not remember which school he studied in the canton of General Villamil (Playas), his supposed birthplace,” Nassib Neme, former electric president, told EL UNIVERSO about the answers he was full of when he returned faced the blue leadership.

Despite this and other precedents, on January 28, 2021, Judge Ronald G., from the Criminal Justice Unit North 2, based in Guayaquil, declared habeas data which Byron David Castillo Segura presented and ordered, in a letter dated February 25 of that year, addressed to the Civil Registry of Ecuador, to register him as an Ecuadorian citizen.

house arrest

Castillo’s alleged date of birth (1998) was confirmed in the resolution of Judge Ronald G., which stated in relevant part: “It is ordered that a new birth certificate be issued for Mr. Byron David Castillo Segura with citizenship identification 0942437021 and that the data of this new entry of birth in the profile of the citizen Byron David Castillo Segura will connect with the same birth registration number in the computer system of the birth registry.

In the decision of the judge, whom the prosecutor’s office labeled today as the alleged perpetrator of several criminal acts, it is added that the information from the registry book is listed and that the date and place of birth of the Barcelona player is November 10, 1998 in the province of Guayas, Canton of Playas, Parish of General Villamil, and registered in the same year and place of birth. Judge Ronald G. ordered in 2021 that the civil registry be appointed to faithfully comply with what was ordered, and lawyer Cristian Sánchez Coello will act as secretary of the office.

Before that order issued by Judge Ronald G. to the Civil Registry – today under house arrest due to his elderly status – there was another issue that called Castillo’s place of birth into question and the Ecuadorian Football Federation took action. On 19 January 2017, as a result of a document-tampering complaint lodged six days earlier by the Council for Citizen Participation and Social Control, FEF recalled players Byron Castillo and John Pereira from Tricolor, hours before the start of the South American U-20s, for suspicions of irregularities in their documentation.

‘Born in Tumac’, Colombia

The Court of Arbitration for Sport (TAS) ruled in November 2022 that Castillo’s passport, as an Ecuadorian, contained “certain false information” and was based on an investigation conducted by Jaime Jara, a retired colonel of the National Police, in 2018 in which he alleged that Castillo Colombian.

The CAS report reproduces some of Jara’s conclusions, such as: “There are irregularities in the birth registration of the player Castillo Segura Byron David, an Ecuadorian national born in the province of Guayas, in the city of General Villamil Playas, with a date of birth of November 10, 1998; since his real name Castillo Segura Byron Javier, son of Castillo Ortiz Harrison Javier and Segura Ortiz Olga Eugenija, born on June 25, 1995, born in Tumac, Nariño.”

Further: “Consulting the Colombian registry office, they show that citizen Castillo Segura Bayron Javier, son of Castillo Ortiz Harrison Javier and Segura Ortiz Olga Eugenia of Colombian nationality, is registered in their computer system, as the same parents of player Castillo Segura Byron David. “Finding that we are dealing with a number of irregularities, such as double identity, falsification of nationality and age.”

By order of Judge Ronald G., as of February 2021, Castillo is Ecuadorian for all purposes. For TAS, no. Due to the participation of the national team in the World Cup qualifying tournament in Qatar, the FEF received a fine and was punished with a reduction of three points in the qualification for the World Cup in 2026. (D)