Violence caused by organized crime has set fire to different countries in Latin America in recent years, with recent emphasis on Ecuador, which is facing a serious Public Security crisis, which began after the escape of a faction leader from prison at the weekend. .
Not long ago, the country was considered one of the safest in the Americas, with a homicide rate of just 5 per 100,000 inhabitants, according to official data from 2017. This rate skyrocketed in 2022, reaching 25.5 murders per 100,000 inhabitants , and last year, 44.9 per 100 thousand inhabitants.
The same scenario was seen a few years ago in El Salvador, a small nation located in Central America dominated by drug trafficking and criminal actions, which in 2015 was classified as the most dangerous country in the world, with a homicide rate that reached 106.3 homicides for every 100 thousand inhabitants. This reality changed drastically after the arrival of President Nayib Bukele, in 2019, who declared a national state of emergency and began a fierce fight against gangs.
The measures adopted by Bukele mainly involve changes in federal legislation and greater freedom of action for the military forces. His government's first major action against organized crime came in 2022, after a massacre led by a criminal organization, which resulted in the deaths of 87 people. As a result, the Salvadoran leader decreed a state of exception, suspending citizens' constitutional rights, a measure that remains in force and is expected to last, at least, until March of this year.
The homicide rate fell to 7.8 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants in the same year. In 2023, this rate reached just 1.7 homicides per 100,000, according to official statistics.
The main measure drawn up by the head of state was the construction of the largest prison on the American continent, with capacity to hold up to 40 thousand inmates: the Terrorism Confinement Center (Cecot). According to information from the Ministry of Infrastructure of El Salvador, the prison is intended for leaders of criminal factions such as Barrio 18 and Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13), the largest that operate in the country.
Last year, when the prison center completed six months, minister Gustavo Villatoro stated that the objective of the megaprison was not only to receive members of these illegal organizations, but to keep them confined so that they would not return to the outside world and put the population's security at risk. risk.
Since then, the small country has restricted several constitutional rights, including those of defense and freedom of association and movement, initiating a series of police operations that arrested thousands of criminals throughout the national territory. It is estimated that the El Salvador police have already imprisoned around 70,000 people during the state of emergency. The latest figures released by the government show 68,294 prisoners.
With the change in perspective, the Salvadoran nation attracted large foreign investors, such as JPMorgan, who created interest in the country's bonds; it also gave a turnaround in tourism, which in 2023 recorded more than 30% growth, compared to the previous year, with a total of 3.2 million visitors; and transformed its capital, São Salvador, and other regions previously dominated by crime, into safe places for the population.
This new reality observed in the Central American country increased the population's confidence in the government and served as an inspiration for other governments in Latin America, which suffer the same consequences of the dominance of organized crime, as is the case of Ecuador, the most recent country in Public Security crisis.
Daniel Noboa, the new Ecuadorian president, who won the country's general elections in November last year, is one of those leaders who look up to Bukele. He was elected on the promise of adopting tougher measures to confront the violence and criminal factions that are crippling the country.
His Fênix plan, defended since the election campaign, aims to promote the construction of new maximum security prisons, similar to Cecot. The proposal to build prison centers is also planned by the same company that worked in the Central American country during 2022.
Furthermore, Noboa defends the militarization of borders with countries known to be controlled by organized crime, such as Colombia, which in the first half of last year registered a record of 52 massacres involving organizations linked to drug trafficking, according to a UN report.
One of its projects involves the creation of an intelligence service jointly between the Armed Forces and the Police, with investments exceeding US$800 million (R$3.8 billion) for border surveillance, port region, protection of neighborhoods and road control.
Ecuador's new government also designed the creation of floating prisons, designed to hold prisoners linked to the country's criminal factions around 130 kilometers from the coast. Noboa stated in one of his statements that he has already acquired three vessels to implement this new policy.
At the beginning of the month, before the wave of violence, Noboa even announced a referendum that is already in the possession of the Constitutional Court, seeking support from the population to develop measures such as the extension of prison sentences for serious crimes, such as homicide and arms trafficking, and permission for the Army to eradicate international criminal groups that terrorize cities and institutions from the country.
“This consultation [o referendo] has three clear objectives: the intervention of the Armed Forces in the fight against crime, the support of the justice system so that those convicted of organized crime have higher sentences and the promotion of employment through new hiring and new economic activities”, he said the agent in an interview with a local radio station.
Now, with the escape of faction leaders from prisons and the attacks that are claiming victims on the streets across the country, the government has decreed a state of exception and “armed internal conflict” in the country, which authorizes joint action by the Armed Forces and of the police against crime and in the control of prisons.
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