On Wednesday, the Ecuadorian Prosecutor’s Office carried out a series of raids and arrests of judges, former judges, judicial officials, practicing lawyers and police officers in eight provinces of the country, who are being investigated for having allowed the release of highly dangerous criminals through legal tricks and abuse of law.
That institution specified that in the provinces of El Oro, Azuay, Manabí, Pichincha, Chimborazo, Tungurahua, Guayas and Santo Domingo de los Tsáchilas it carried out a series of operations under the presumption of organized crime, illicit enrichment and influence peddling in various sectors.
In a statement he highlighted that the action seeks to eradicate “this plague that operates in the justice system, which has been systematized as a vicious circle” and which shows “again the deep emergence of corruption” in the different structures of the State. He added that the prosecutor’s decision is “not to allow impunity.”
In the photographs distributed by that institution, police and public ministry agents are observed carrying out raids and arrests of suspects linked to the irregular processes of granting freedom. in exchange for favors or money.
“Plague Operation”
It has not been reported how many people were arrested throughout the country nor the cases that triggered this operation called Plaga, that was still open.
At the end of last year, the prosecution uncovered a case that revealed a significant penetration of drug trafficking in justice, police, politics and even in the prosecutor’s office, in which 52 people are accused.
The investigation arose after the prosecutor’s office seize cell phones and gained access to the messages of drug trafficker Leandro Norero, who was murdered in October 2022 in a prison in the central Andean part of the country, in whose messages these links were evident.
CThe public ministry also investigates and has revealed the main cases of corruption in recent years, especially in the governments of former presidents Rafael Correa (2007-2017), Lenín Moreno (2017-2021) and Guillermo Lasso (2021-2023), with some of its main officials in prison or escaped from the country.
A country in a “state of internal conflict”
In early January, after a series of violent episodes, which included the takeover of a television channel in full live broadcast, the president of Ecuador, Daniel Noboa, declared the “internal armed conflict” and targeted organized crime groups. transnational corporation, whom he officially declared “terrorists.”
On January 9, an armed drug group stormed the live broadcast of a television channel in Ecuador, threatening those in charge of programming with guns and weapons of war. There were also violent episodes at the University of Guayaquil and in commercial premises.
Since then, the country has been militarized and the population has strong fears of a new wave of mafia attacks. Noboa then assured that the country is “in a state of war and we cannot give in to drug terrorism.”