How to face the drug gangs in an increasingly violent Ecuador? The right-wing presidential candidate Daniel Noboa proposed on Tuesday to create a system of high seas prison ships to keep inmates away from “the non-violent” and disconnect them from their criminal networks.
The calls “prison barges“would have the capacity to”300 or 400 inmates” and would be located “in Ecuadorian waters”, 80 miles from the mainland. They would have “the assistance of the armed forces that will be protecting them”, explained the millionaire businessman to the foreign press in the port city of Guayaquil.
Noboa, 35, came a surprising second place in Sunday’s early general elections with 23% of the vote. She will contest the runoff on October 15 against the leftist candidate Luisa González (34% of votes), bishop of former socialist president Rafael Correa (2007-2017).
In a country submerged in violence and cornered by drug gangs that use prisons as operations centers, Noboa raises the flag of security as the main need of Ecuador.
“We have a problem which is time. Building a prison takes a long time, at least two years to do it, instead correctly fixing the ones we have and adding them to a barge prison system can help isolate the most violent criminals”, Noboa specified earlier, in an interview for the Ecuavisa television channel.
This way “we protect the physical integrity of the non-violent and we have isolated the violent, many of whom commit crimes from prison”, he added.
According to Noboa’s calculations, the rental of the prison barges would cost US$8 million per year each and would be acquired under 8- or 10-year contracts.
“Buy them, right now Ecuador does not have the money”, he assured.
Noboa landed by surprise in the runoff in Ecuador a week after the assassination of candidate Fernando Villavicencio, who was second in the polls. He is supported by right-wing forces that call for a strong hand against criminal organizations, although he insists on presenting himself as a “businessman with heart” and a “moderate social democrat”.
The once peaceful South American country has become in recent years the theater of war for cartels that impose a regime of terror with killings, kidnappings and extortion.
Gangs linked to Mexican and Colombian cartels clash over the drug business and use prisons as their center of operations, where massacres have occurred that have left more than 430 inmates dead since 2021.
Last year Ecuador reached a record of 26 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants, almost double that of 2021, and this year the rate will rise to 40.
Source: AFP
Source: Gestion
Ricardo is a renowned author and journalist, known for his exceptional writing on top-news stories. He currently works as a writer at the 247 News Agency, where he is known for his ability to deliver breaking news and insightful analysis on the most pressing issues of the day.
