Ecuador deports Colombian prisoners!
Bogotá, Jul 26 (EFE).-
Around 450 Colombians imprisoned in Ecuador were deported to their country on Saturday by order of President Daniel Noboa.
“Of the more than 600 expelled prisoners registered at the time, around 450 have already entered the country, while the rest are waiting at the Rumichaca Bridge,” said the Colombian Foreign Ministry in a statement.
On Saturday morning, Colombia’s acting foreign minister, Rosa Villavicencio, arrived at the Rumichaca bridge, located on the border between Colombia and Ecuador.
According to a statement from the ministry she traveled to “verify firsthand the arrival of our compatriots and ensure dignified treatment and respect for their rights during all procedures.”
The Foreign Ministry added that of these first 450 Colombians expelled from Ecuadorian prisons, at least 348 have criminal records, and that it had requested the corresponding information on the others through a verbal note.
Unlike previous repatriations, in which prisoners had to continue serving their sentences in Colombia, this time they will regain their freedom upon entering Colombian territory, provided they have no pending legal proceedings in Colombia.
The Foreign Ministry assured that once the immigration process is complete, the deportees already in Colombia will receive lodging, food, and transportation to their final destination.
Colombia’s Protest
The first prisoners were released from prisons in the Ecuadorian provinces of Chimborazo, Carchi, and Napo in joint operations carried out by the Ecuadorian Armed Forces and police beginning Thursday night.
Following the start of the deportations, Colombia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that it had expressed its “strongest protest” to Ecuador’s government for “this unfriendly gesture,” as the measure had been taken “unilaterally.”
Adding that Ecuador made the decision to deport its nationals “ignoring the respectful and repeated requests of the Colombian government to establish a protocol that would allow for the transfer of these people in dignified conditions, with respect for their rights, and in a safe and orderly process.”
Ecuador’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Human Mobility denied carrying out collective deportations of prisoners to Colombia. They assured that the process, which began Friday, is being carried out “in strict compliance” with the law.
Prisons are one of the epicenters of the escalating criminal violence affecting Ecuador. Noboa has sought to counter this by declaring the country in a state of “internal armed conflict” to confront criminal gangs, which he has labeled as terrorists.
Last year, in this context, the Ecuadorian president ordered the repatriation of foreign prisoners, who numbered around 3,200 at that time, equivalent to 10% of the national prison population. The vast majority of these prisoners were Colombian or Venezuelan. EFE csr/mcd
