In a radio interview, Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa announced that he will expel foreigners who have been deprived of their liberty from the country. One of the first countries where the measure will be applied is Colombia.

Noboa pointed that out 1,500 people have that nationality and that following the offer of his Colombian counterpart, Gustavo Petro, to provide aid to the country, those with prison sentences of five years or more will be returned.

“The moment we took them out, we had no costs,” he said.

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He indicated that he can transfer them to the border through international treaties and hand them over to Colombian authorities. The deportation is expected to begin this week.

Reactions from Colombia were immediate, with that country’s Justice Minister, Néstor Osuna, warning against the measure, although he also expressed solidarity with Ecuador.

“If they are deported, the first place they deport them is from prison, that is, they release them and when they arrive at the border, of course a Colombian citizen who arrives at the border can arrive in Colombia. If you have an outstanding debt to the Colombian legal system upon arrival in Colombia, you must be arrested, and if you do not have it, you can continue your life in freedom in Colombia,” he explained.

Osuna clarified that if this change is implemented, the decisions of the Ecuadorian legal system on the sentences of these prisoners will not be valid and that, to be valid, they require that the process take place through repatriation of prisoners.

“If it is an expulsion, it means that they arrive at the border and it will depend on the situation of each of them before the Colombian legal system,” he added.

In statements to the media, he also pointed out that Ipiales does not have the capacity to house 1,500 new prisoners.

Osuna also referred to the issue in an interview with Snail radio, before Noboa’s announcement, in which he revealed that they had received an official message from Chancellor Gabriela Sommerfeld last week, and that they also spoke this weekend and he specified that the repatriation of prisoners “has a number of procedures that are not intended for mass repatriations .”

He also indicated that there were ten repatriation requests in 2023 and only seven were approved.

Osuna explained that the person deprived of his liberty is the one who must make the request to continue paying his sentence near a family member who can visit him. After this, the government of Colombia must issue a resolution.

“The initiative comes from the prisoner, it is the person deprived of liberty who requests repatriation, in this case it is requested from the authorities of Ecuador, Ecuador analyzes it and if it considers it relevant, it starts the diplomatic process, we received the request,” he clarified.

He also specified that the repatriation of prisoners is humanitarian in nature. (JO)