(Quito) Ecuador decides on Sunday on several government measures against drug trafficking and gangs, in the face of criminal violence still omnipresent in the country, and now a double energy and diplomatic crisis.
Some 13.6 million voters are called to the polls to answer yes or no to eleven questions asked by President Daniel Noboa.
Open at 7 a.m. local time (10 a.m. Eastern time), the vote takes place in a “peaceful, calm and safe” atmosphere, under the protection of security forces, according to the National Electoral Council (CNE), which made report of a participation of approximately 8% at 10 a.m.
“The outcome of this consultation will define the direction and state policy that we will take to meet the challenge of fighting violence, organized crime, fighting corruption and creating jobs,” said the President Noboa during the opening of the poll, scheduled to end at 5 p.m. local time (8 p.m. Eastern time).
Among the main proposals are the extradition of Ecuadorian nationals linked to organized crime, particularly to the United States, a measure greatly feared by narcos.
Mauricio Lopez, 36, employed in Quito, says he “voted yes, in particular to extradition”.
“The idea is that criminals are more afraid, it is also a more rigorous way of punishing them.”
Dulce Negrete, 61, judges for her part that extradition “is of no use”.
“The participation of the army in operations against gangs mainly resulted in “more deaths””, according to the sixty-year-old who “voted no to everything”.
“Internal armed conflict”
Ecuador, plagued by drug trafficking and corruption, which has become the main platform for the export of cocaine produced in neighboring Colombia and Peru, has been facing a serious security crisis caused by gangs since mid-January.
President Noboa, elected in November for 18 months and who is expected to seek a new mandate in 2025, declared the country in “internal armed conflict” and deployed the army to neutralize around twenty of these groups.
PHOTO CESAR MUNOZ, ASSOCIATED PRESS
President Daniel Noboa
Since then, at least a dozen politicians, local officials, and even prosecutors have been assassinated. On Friday, a new mayor was shot and killed.
In August 2023, shortly before the first round of the presidential election, the main opposition candidate was shot dead leaving a rally.
Added to these tensions is the diplomatic storm caused by the police assault in early April on the Mexican embassy in Quito, to capture the former vice-president of Rafael Correa (2007-2017), Jorge Glas (2013-2017). , who is under investigation for corruption.
At the national level, the emergency of the moment is energy, with severe electricity rationing (up to 13 hours per day) and an emergency review of hydroelectric installations.
Consequence of drought, the El Niño phenomenon, but also poor administrative management, by the authorities’ own admission, this shortage of electricity would also be the result of “sabotage” linked to his political enemies, according to President Noboa .
A presidential decree on Friday ordered the mobilization of the police and the army “to guarantee the security of energy infrastructure”.
“Regression of rights”
Ecuadorians speak out on the participation of the army in arms control, on increasing penalties for crimes linked to organized crime and on the possibility for security forces to use seized weapons.
PHOTO CESAR MUNOZ, ASSOCIATED PRESS
But also on the formalization of work paid by the hour, a measure strongly criticized by unions and indigenous organizations, as well as the recognition of international arbitration to resolve disputes in matters of investment and trade.
Ecuador had ended bilateral treaties and withdrew from arbitration bodies, under the government of former socialist president Rafael Correa (2007-2017), now an opponent in exile after his conviction for corruption.
Andrés Maldonado, 35, “voted yes” to all the proposals, for their “impact on organized crime”, except for hourly work, “a regression of rights” according to him.
Francisco Erique, for his part, does not see how a simple vote “can solve the problem of crime” and believes that some of the questions asked “could have been resolved directly by the legislature without the need to spend millions on a referendum”.