Ecuador’s government is asking the United States to donate $5 billion to finance the comprehensive security strategy promoted by the Guillermo Lasso administration.
The Ecuadorian president has emphasized that this amount is required to fight drug trafficking and transnational organized crime.
In an interview with Infobae, Lasso said that he spoke with US President Joe Biden about the need for the United States to contribute economically to the fight against drug trafficking:
“What I have told President Biden is that we have to divide the bill because a small country with few resources like Ecuador cannot bear all the economic costs involved in the fight against drug trafficking that we have to give and we will let’s continue it,” he said. Lasso, who gave the above talk during the Summit of the Americas, held last June.
Ecuador has become a key point for cocaine trafficking to Europe and the United States. According to the US Bureau of International Narcotics Affairs, the country’s main seaport is the logistics hub for drug shipments to several countries around the world.
Even the latest report from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime ranks Ecuador as the third country in the world that seized the most cocaine in 2021.
Most seizures occur at ports, as traffickers contaminate exported containers with drugs.
Diego Ordóñez, head of the National Secretariat of Public and State Security, assured in an interview with Ecuavisa that the government has been negotiating these funds with the United States for more than a year.
According to Ordóñez, the proposal for funding and support for the equipment of the public force was submitted to the Department of Defense, the US Southern Command and the State Department.
The purpose of this cooperation is that the National Police and the Armed Forces “have sufficient capacities to cope with the levels of crime”.
Recently, President Guillermo Lasso indicated that the Air Force has only three operational aircraft at the Manta base, a key point for monitoring the national air and sea space.
According to sources from the Ministry of Defense who have disclosed to Infobae, the Armed Forces do not operate with their maximum capacities as they do not have the necessary resources.
The Ecuadorian military is estimated to be operating at 25% of its total capacity. If the United States sends $5 billion to Ecuador, the Armed Forces will receive $3 billion and the police the remaining $2 billion.
“Ecuador cannot win this battle alone; her financial situation does not allow it. Therefore, there is an approach in this sense and we hope to have answers regarding this”, said Ordóñez.
The Security Secretary also announced that the National Police will change its operational management model and said that intermediate barracks, with around 200 uniformed officers, will be established in the most violent areas.
For example, three such barracks are planned for Esmeraldas, the border province with a violent death rate similar to that of Tijuana, Mexico.
This new management model would replace Community Policing Units. These units currently employ around 20 police officers, but they are on a rotating basis, meaning there are between 2 and 3 officers.
This small number of police prevents the uniformed officers from confronting the gangs operating in the most dangerous neighborhoods of the country.
Esmeraldas is a province historically abandoned by the state. The data of the National Institute of Statistics and Census, from 2021, show that more than 50% of the population of this province is in the income poverty category.
Even extreme poverty has a significant percentage and is over 25%. Estimates show that the monthly income of the Esmeraldeños’ family is only US$48.
With information from Infobae
