Ecuador Presidential Hopeful Wants Violent Prisoners Put to Sea
Stephan Kueffner, Bloomberg News
1h ago
(Bloomberg) -- With Ecuador now under siege by organized crime gangs headquartered in violent prisons, presidential candidate Daniel Noboa is suggesting a centuries-old fix: Move the worst offenders into floating jails.
To “fully isolate” the most violent offenders who have imposed a reign of terror, Noboa wants “a transitional system of prison barges,” he said this month during a debate. Campaigns are now over and Ecuadorians are preparing to vote Sunday, with insecurity ranking as the most important issue.
The prison ships would be guarded by Ecuador’s navy within territorial waters to keep incommunicado dangerous criminals, ending their ability to order murders, kidnapping and extortion from their cells, according to a document provided by the Noboa campaign. The plan is aimed at about one sixth of the incarcerated population.
A spiraling homicide rate that’s overtaken that of Colombia and Mexico to top 25 people per 100,000 as of 2022 has shaken the Andean nation, making crime the number one domestic issue. The violence rocked the presidential campaign, with candidate Fernando Villavicencio gunned down in August while leaving a rally in Quito. Seven suspects in the assassination were found dead in jail last week.
Much of the crime wave springs from the use of jails as headquarters by drug lords amid scant government control, according to a retired national police general. “Gangs basically manage operations from there, especially domestic drug trafficking,” Juan Carlos Barragan said.
More:
https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/ecuador-presidential-hopeful-wants-violent-prisoners-put-to-sea-1.1984455
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