Despite the state of exception, the clashes and deaths have continued, especially in the Litoral Penitentiary.
“The intervention of the church Catholic and academic organizations that have to do with the internal management of prisons, “said Alexandra Vela, Minister of Government, in a television interview.
Vela detailed that involving the church aims to “pacify the interior of prisons”. Already on October 22, 2021 (one month after the massacre in the Penitentiary. 119 dead) Monsignor Luis Cabrera, president of the Ecuadorian Episcopal Confederation, made an invitation to promote dialogue after the prison crisis and politics that the country lives. “The pain and concern experienced by the bloody deaths in the jails and streets of our cities have mourned the entire Ecuador,” said the priest in a statement.
Paper exception status
The Constitutional Court indicated, on October 6, 2021, the prison emergency was constitutional, provided that the Armed Forces limited their control to the outside of the jails.
This meant that only the Police and prison guides were inside the rehabilitation centers. However, between September and October there have been 11 inmates killed by apparent suicide, four new attempts at mutiny with shootings inside and periodic searches where weapons, drugs and cell phones continue to be found. All this during the state of exception that the Government decreed.
Mario Pazmiño, former intelligence chief of the national army, says that the gangs will not be able to be controlled as long as the prison structure “is flawed.” It indicates that there is a lack of control, professionalism, ethics and precarious selection of guides and administrators that does not allow ‘nipping at the roots’ the problems that afflict the system.
Daniel Pontón, an expert university professor in security, agrees with Pazmiño, who qualifies the work strategies in the jails as ‘palliative’, that once the Exception status everything will go back to what it was before. “It is a kind of crisis repetitive that we are evidenced. The crises are related to a matter of limitation of resources ”, he adds.
Church and social conflicts
This would not be the first time church intervenes in political conflicts. In October 2019, at the dialogue table between Conaie and the Government of Lenín Moreno – which sought to stop the October strike – there were representatives of the Ecuadorian Episcopal Conference and the United Nations System.
For Álvaro Garrido, an expert sociologist in security, calling for the church it can be counterproductive because “it sends a message that the Public Force has not worked. That he is lowering his arms to the violence of the prison gangs, which would only increase his ego, “he adds. (AVV)
