In April the first 13 repatriated prisoners will arrive in Colombia from Ecuador

“Very soon, in the coming days of April, the first condemned everyday people repatriated from Ecuador will arrive in Colombia”, stated yesterday the Minister of Justice, Néstor Osuna, who held a high-level meeting with the Foreign Minister, Luis Gilberto Murillo, and the head of the Ecuadorian Foreign Ministry, Gabriela Sommerfeld, in which they discussed the establishment of an expeditious mechanism of attention to requests for repatriation of persons deprived of their liberty.

The parties also announced that they will meet in the binational cabinet on April 25 in the city of Ipiales, where they hope to define a joint agenda, among other issues, giving priority to the fight against transnational crime.

“The good relations and cooperation between Ecuador and Colombia is historical, it is not temporary and that must always be maintained that way. Precisely, today we have ratified the good will that always exists between these two brother countries. We have advanced the agenda of the next binational cabinet, which will be the one that will be held on April 25 in the city of Ipiales,” Sommerfeld assured.

“The problems that afflict Ecuador afflict the region and Colombia has a lot of experience and can also support us in the training of our security forces.”

The Ecuadorian Foreign Minister highlighted that at the meeting they discussed issues regarding security cooperation, “understanding that the problems that plague Ecuador, affect the region and Colombia has a lot of experience and can also support us in the training of our security forces.” .

On the issue of the transfer of people deprived of their liberty to Colombian territory, Sommerfeld highlighted that an “evaluation was made of how the process has been up to this point, trying to find ways to optimize it and to specify in the coming days and part of this agreement that the parties have been working on”.

The details of the process of repatriation of prisoners to Colombia

In the last month, Ecuador and Colombia have taken some key steps to achieve this process. In a joint statement issued by both countries a little over a month ago, they indicated that “they agreed to collaborate to give agile and effective application to the bilateral agreements in force regarding the individual repatriation of sentenced people.”

It is worth remembering that in January, Ecuador announced the deportation of more than a thousand prisoners, many of them Colombians, who are serving sentences in their country's penitentiary centers, to reduce the prison population in the midst of the security crisis they are going through.

In this regard, Minister Osuna pointed out this Tuesday that what has been decided “is to work together so that this corner of the planet continues to be beautiful, a good living space and that we can continue going and coming from one place to another with peace of mind.” In that sense, Osuna highlighted, without specifying a date, that “Colombia will receive some Colombians who are sentenced in Ecuadorian prisons starting this April.”

Regarding the decision, the minister highlighted that the key to the matter is to be able to offer a space for resocialization for those who are about to serve their sentence.

“People who have already been sentenced must be offered resocialization and resocialization works better when the person is finishing paying their sentence closer to their family, closer to their environment, where when they leave they can also get a job and a family.” that welcomes him. We want to contribute to this purpose of resocialization that those who committed crimes, but who are already paying the penalty, can integrate into society without this being a clash with our objective of destructuring criminal corporations,” he added.

Regarding the latter, Osuna highlighted that Colombia asked Ecuador for its collaboration in promoting the fight against criminal structures. “Since they do not recognize borders, it is also up to us to collaborate so that these criminals do not think that the border is a mockery, but that their criminal structures are really going to be exterminated there and here alike,” he stated.

STEPHANY ECHAVARRÍA – INTERNATIONAL EDITOR – EL TIEMPO