Quito: Ecuadorians are battling violence that has seen two mayors killed this week, with a referendum on Sunday proposing tougher measures against gang-related crime.
The peaceful South American country has been hit by a terrifying wave of violence, blamed on groups linked to transnational cartels that use its ports to ship drugs to the US and Europe.
President Daniel Noboa declared a state of “internal armed conflict” with about 20 criminal gangs in January, which he blamed for the violence fueled by a major exodus of drug traffickers.
The bandits kidnapped dozens of people, including police and prison guards, opened fire on live television and said they would execute a random execution on the day that left almost 20 people dead.
Noboa imposed a state of emergency and deployed soldiers to take control of state prisons, which have become the nerve center of the group’s operations and a bloody battlefield that has killed more than 460 prisoners in three years – many beheaded or burned alive. .
Despite this effort, the violence continued, which Noboa saw as “a sign that drug terrorism and its allies are looking for space for our terrorism.”
Two mayors were killed last week, making it five in a year and three in a month.
At least ten politicians have been killed in Ecuador since January last year, including presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio, who was shot dead last August after a campaign incident.
On Sunday, the president will ask for public support for his plan to reform those responsible for such actions.
Citizens will be asked to approve expanded military and police powers, significantly increased gun control, and tougher penalties for “terrorism” and drug trafficking.
Noboa also proposes to change the constitution to allow the extradition of Ecuadorians abroad for crimes related to organized crime.
About 13.6 million of the country’s 17.7 million people are eligible to vote “Yes” or “No” on Sunday.
Many of the referendum questions are related to crime prevention, widespread corruption in Ecuador, electricity shortages and diplomatic relations with Mexico.
Last year, the number of murders in the country reached 43 per 100,000 people – an increase of only six in 2018, according to official figures.
By 2023, more people in Ecuador than in the country of Guaya will feel unsafe, polling firm Gallup said in a report published Friday.
Other polls show that most Ecuadorians will vote for Noboa’s reforms.
“People support the security decision,” Santiago Basabe, a political scientist at the Faculty of Social Sciences of Latin America (Flaxo), told AFP.
The vote will come in the same week that Ecuadorians face power outages of up to 13 hours as drought leaves key hydroelectric reservoirs empty.
The government ordered workers to stay at home for two days to conserve scarce energy resources.
Noboa, who took office last November at the age of 35, faced an attack this month on the Ecuadorian Embassy in Quito, Mexico, for the arrest of former vice president Jorge Glas, who was accused of corruption.
Glaza was granted asylum by Mexico, and Ecuador condemned it. Mexico filed a case at the International Court of Justice in The Hague.
