Ecuador’s president asks to transfer 3,000 foreign prisoners back to their home countries to serve remainders of their sentences as he tries to regain control of prisons from powerful gangs
- Ecuador’s President Daniel Noboa has ordered the penitentiary system to begin repatriating 3,245 foreign prisoners
- The measure is part of a plan to restore order to 36 prisons that have fallen under the control of powerful gangs accused of spreading violence in the country.
- At least 1,641 male and female prisoners come from Colombia and 1,302 from Venezuela
Ecuador’s President Daniel Noboa has issued a decree that will pave the way for the repatriation of 3,245 foreign prisoners to their home country and prevent them from ever setting foot in the South American country.
The measure, issued on Monday, aims to reduce the population of foreign prisoners held in overcrowded prisons as the government fights to regain control of a prison system that has fallen under the control of powerful gangs.
Through Executive Order 139, Noboa granted the National Comprehensive Care Service for Adults Deprived of Liberty (SNAI) the authority to “carry out the necessary administrative procedures for the repatriation of foreign persons deprived of their liberty by a judgment pronounced in Ecuador, so that their sentence carried out in the country of origin or nationality.’
According to the results of the 2022 penitentiary census, released in July, 31,321 people are held in 36 prisons.
Ecuadorian authorities have jailed six Colombian men in connection with the assassination of presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio on August 9, 2023
There are 2,900 male prisoners from abroad. At least 1,641 male and female prisoners come from Colombia; six men are in custody for their role in the assassination of presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio in August 2023.
Ecuador has 1,302 male and female prisoners from Venezuela and Peru is third on the list with 108 of its citizens behind bars.
A 2022 study by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights found that sending foreign prisoners to their countries of origin “because it benefits them and can help reduce violence and overcrowding in detention centers in Ecuador .’
Since 2020, more than 450 inmates have been murdered during prison riots.
Prisoners were forced to lie on the ground in a courtyard of the Regional 8 prison complex during an operation in Guayaquil, Ecuador, on January 18. At least 31,321 men and women are being held in 36 prisons.
Soldiers enter the prison in Turi, Ecuador, on January 14. The government is rolling out a plan to return more than 3,000 prisoners to their countries of origin in a bid to take control from powerful gangs
In an interview with Ecuavisa on Monday, Noboa said the repatriation of prisoners would be done in groups of 100.
The detainees would be bused or flown to neighboring border crossings.
‘They will no longer be able to enter Ecuador. They are banned from entering Ecuador forever,” he said. “We are no longer going to allow people to go to Colombia and then return to commit the same crimes. He’s gone, he’s not coming back.’
Noboa, who took office in November 2023, declared a 60-day state of emergency earlier this month after a gang raided the TC Noticias studios during a live broadcast and took staff hostage.
This event has suspended citizens’ rights, allowed the military to enter prisons and labeled 22 criminal gangs as terrorist groups.