Violence and crime, including within the country’s prison system, have skyrocketed in Ecuador since the end of last year. The government has blamed the violence on drug gangs that use the country as a transit point for drugs bound for the United States and Europe.
To deal with the problem, Lasso declared a Exception status that ended in mid-December, in order to mobilize hundreds of soldiers to the streets in the most violent areas, but the measure has not succeeded in neutralizing the practices of criminal gangs.
“I think nobody is happy with justice in Ecuador”Lasso said in an interview broadcast on his social networks. “We are working on the subject of the popular consultation and we can make it coincide with the 2023 sectional elections.”
The president, a former conservative banker, said that the decisions and sentences of judges who immediately release criminals who have been captured “impact the insecurity that comes from all this illegal drug trafficking activity.”
Lasso makes his proposal a week after the US embassy in Ecuador announced the withdrawal of visas for several judges and justice system personnel.
The embassy explained in a statement on January 10 that it will continue to use its authority to deny or revoke visas, in order to advance “anti-corruption efforts and combat organized crime.”
Lasso said that his proposal will aim to consult on citizen security issues and determine clear functions of the entities that make up the country’s judicial system to avoid conflicts.
He did not rule out including a controversial labor reform in the popular consultation.
“We need an institutionally strong justice to promote foreign investment in Ecuador,” added the president. “So that they see us as an absolutely serious country that administers justice with total impartiality.”
Source From: Ambito
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