Ecuador: Voters Overwhelmingly Approve Hardline Crackdown on Violent Gangs
Juan Diego Montenegro/picture alliance via Getty Images
Millions in Ecuador headed to the polls on Sunday, overwhelmingly approving a broad series of security measures that President Daniel Noboa proposed to fight the rampant crime and gang violence that has engulfed the country.
The referendum took place during Ecuador’s ongoing state of emergency, implemented through an “internal armed conflict” declaration, to contain more than 20 of the country’s deadliest gangs. Ecuador’s out-of-control violence has led to the assassination of several mayors and political candidates.
Sunday's 11-question referendum asked the Ecuadorian electorate to approve or reject nine security-related measures that Noboa’s government proposed, as well as two economic ones. While all nine security measures were met with overwhelming approval, the two economic proposals were rejected. All proposals were addressed on a question-by-question basis.
According to preliminary results that Ecuador's National Electoral Council (CNE) published, at press time, the nine security proposals received approval votes ranging from 60.13 to 72.78 percent, with an average of 65 percent approval for each.
President Noboa celebrated the referendum’s results.
“We have defended the country; now we have more tools to fight against crime and return peace to Ecuadorian families,” Noboa wrote in a social media statement, accompanied by a picture of himself, his wife, and two of his children.
CNE head Diana Atamaint described Sunday’s voting process as largely “orderly and peaceful” and estimated voter turnout to have been around 72 percent. A major exception to that description is the assassination of the director of the El Rodeo prison, Damián Parrales, on Sunday while he was having lunch with his wife and family. Parrales was shot dead five days after becoming El Rodeo's new director.
The approved security proposals include introducing amendments to the Ecuadorian constitution that would allow the country's armed forces to aid the local police in combatting organized crime and would allow the extradition of Ecuadorians in accordance with international law and treaties. The amendments would also establish specialized judiciaries on constitutional matters.
The proposals also include firearm-related measures that would allow the Armed Forces to carry out permanent control of weapons, ammunition, and explosives on the routes and roads that lead to the nation's prisons. The reforms would criminalize the possession of weapons that local laws deem exclusively military weapons, without affecting the laws pertaining to weapons civilians are allowed to own.
Additionally, the proposals call to modify Ecuador’s penal code to allow Ecuador’s National Police and Armed Forces to immediately use firearms, ammunition, and explosives seized as instruments or the material object of a crime. Voters also greenlit increased penalties for certain crimes, such as terrorism, drug and human trafficking, organized crime, murder, and money laundering, among others.
Another proposed reform would allow the Ecuadorian state to take ownership of assets of illicit or unjustified origin through reforms to the local law that would simplify such processes.
Soldiers patrol outside the government palace during a state of emergency in Quito, Ecuador, on January 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Dolores Ochoa)
The two economic-related proposals that were rejected called for Ecuador’s recognition of international arbitration as a method to resolve investment, contractual, or commercial disputes and a reform to the local labor laws to allow workers to be contracted by the hour. Both economic proposals were rejected with more than 65 percent of the votes.
Noboa, shortly after taking office in November, began enacting a series of security measures known as the “Phoenix Plan” to curb Ecuador's rampant crime, gang violence, and drug trafficking.
The Ecuadorian president declared a formal internal armed conflict in January in response to a dramatic wave of gang violence that resulted in kidnappings, prison riots, and the storming of a local television station that led to a hostage crisis. The wave of gang violence was preceded by the “disappearance” of José Adolfo Macías from his prison cell in Guayaquil. Macías, commonly known as “Fito,” is Ecuador’s most-wanted criminal and the leader of Los Choneros, one of the most dangerous gangs in Ecuador.
Noboa was elected in October 2023 to conclude the remainder of his predecessor Guillermo Lasso’s presidential term, which was originally slated to end in May 2025. In May 2023, Lasso used a constitutional provision, commonly known as “mutually assured death,” to dissolve Congress and call for new elections after repeated impeachment attempts launched by the nation's socialist lawmakers made it impossible for Lasso to govern.
In February, Noboa expressed his intention to run for reelection in 2025.
“The work is not yet finished and I think more time is needed. For that, re-election is needed. I will serve the time that, one, the Constitution grants me, and two, that the people want to support,” Noboa said at the time.
Christian K. Caruzo is a Venezuelan writer and documents life under socialism. You can follow him on Twitter here.
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