Ecuador considers allowing extraditions to the US linked to organized crime

The chancellor of EcuadorGabriela Sommerfeld, assured that her Government is considering allowing extraditions to USA of Ecuadorians linked to the organized crimesomething prohibited by the Constitution, as a measure to combat the escalation of violence in the country.

However, a little less than a year ago, Ecuadorians rejected reforming the Constitution to include the extradition of people linked to transnational crime, in a referendum held by the government of the then president, Guillermo Lasso (2021-2023).

Sommerfeld added that the new government has held several meetings with US authorities, where issues of “security” and economic growth have been discussed and that he hopes the collaboration will continue during a visit by US officials to Ecuador In the next weeks.

”The security problem arises from a problem of lack of opportunity that exists in countries,” explained the chancellor. “We have to strengthen the economy,” she stressed.

The US announced yesterday that several senior officials from Joe Biden’s Government will soon visit Ecuador, including the commander of the US Southern Command, Laura Richardson, and the head of the State Department’s anti-narcotics office, Todd Robinson.

For his part, the deputy head of the Mission of USA. before the OAS, Thomas Hastings, noted today in his speech before the Permanent Council that his country is already working with Ecuador to ensure that those responsible for the violence “are quickly brought to justice.”

In this regard, lawyer José Miguel Vivanco, senior researcher at the Council on Foreign Relations of the United States, told EFE today that the extradition to USA “It can be an extraordinarily effective instrument, as it was in Colombia,” to fight against organized crime that has the State of Ecuador in check.

But “unfortunately, he added, in the case of Ecuador it is not an option, because the extradition of nationals is prohibited, there is no agreement of that type, which makes the State’s options more impotent,” recalled this Chilean lawyer who for 28 years years he was in charge Human Rights Watch Americas Division.

organized crime in Ecuador This week has seen an escalation of violence, with at least fourteen dead, riots in several prisons, kidnappings, explosions, attacks and even the armed assault on a television station in the city of Guayaquil.

Faced with these episodes, the president Daniel Noboa has declared a state of emergency with a curfew, has declared the situation of “internal armed conflict” and has classified these gangs as “terrorist” groups and, consequently, military objectives.

The violence and security crisis broke out when the Government was preparing to implement its plan to regain control of Ecuadorian prisons, many of them internally dominated by these groups.

That violence has also moved to the streets. Ecuador It is one of the most violent countries in the world, with 45 intentional homicides per 100,000 inhabitants in 2023.