Ecuador is under a state of emergency following a wave of violence sparked by the assassination of Mayor Agustín Intriago. After a weekend of violence that left eight people dead, Ecuadorian president Guillermo Lasso declared a state of emergency and curfews across three provinces on July 24th.
Intriago, the mayor of the coastal city of Manta, was shot on the 23rd, as the country simultaneously suffered from widespread prison riots and gang clashes. The murder is still under investigation, and the state of emergency will continue for 60 days, with varying curfews.
“We cannot deny that organized crime has permeated the state, political organizations and society itself,” President Lasso said after a meeting with his security cabinet, alluding to the struggle with corruption and organized crime that has plagued Ecuador for decades. Acknowledging that there is a major problem within the nation’s prison and justice system, Lasso said that Ecuador’s “impunity” set a “negative message for society,” but the President has held to a positive vision of the future. In another statement on the 24th, Lasso said that the deaths that weekend had “hurt us,” but that they would also “galvanize us as a country.”
Ecuador needs to execute a complete overhaul of its prison and legal systems, in order to release nonviolent offenders, reduce overcrowding, root out corruption, and provide the requisite resources to inmates. Additionally, the root problem of poverty needs to be addressed. Young Ecuadorians have few viable alternatives to a life of crime and drug trafficking – the current system is not adequately allocating resources to those in need, instead contributing to the vast wealth inequality. Ecuador has tried several creative approaches to address gang activity, including legalizing them as cultural associations, but the fact that no program has been able to effectively last for more than one presidential administration has inhibited progress.
These events are demonstrative of a larger problem within Ecuador’s prison system and society as a whole. Prisons are facing severe overcrowding and a lack of sufficient resources, forcing inmates to join the organized crime groups that essentially run the facilities in order to obtain the protection and resources that they need to survive. This is only a symptom of the larger situation, which includes widespread poverty and wealth inequality, as well as deeply engrained corruption and participation in the larger web of drug trafficking and organized crime that spans the continent. Jail violence in particular has been on the rise since 2021, with over 400 people dying in the past couple of years.
Ecuador’s situation is an excellent example of why it is crucial to re-examine the purpose of incarceration. Is arresting a low-level drug trafficker or thief helpful when the jails are strongholds of organized crime? It would be more effective to provide those in need with the resources that will help them avoid prison and organized crime. The same is true in many countries with extremely high levels of incarceration. It seems clear that, on the whole, incarceration is an ineffective way to reduce crime and violence.
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