2024-01-12 05:29:00
The head of the National Penitentiary Institute (INPE), Javier Llaque, warned this Thursday that Peru will deport Ecuadorian prisoners, if the measure announced by the Ecuadorian president, Daniel Noboa, to reduce prison overcrowding in the midst of the unprecedented wave of violence that the neighboring nation is experiencing.
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In an interview broadcast by RPP, the official explained that Peruvian prisons currently house 4,500 foreign inmates, the majority (3,300) of Venezuelan nationality. “Ecuadorians have 162 in various prisons nationwide,” of which at least fifteen—he mentioned—belonged to ‘Los Tiguerones’, the criminal gang that attacked the Ecuadorian channel TC Televisión live.
This organization, dedicated to drug trafficking, extortion, hitmen and arms trafficking, was born from ‘Los Choneros’, a drug trafficking group that mutated into a powerful prison gang, led by Jorge Luis Zambrano, alias ‘Rasquiña’, who was murdered in a prison commercial in Manta on December 28, 2020.
“We have identified them […] under control and determined who they are. There has been concern because the president of Ecuador has indicated that he is going to return or expel 1,500 foreigners, but [esa cifra] includes Venezuelans and Colombians. There are only one hundred Peruvians in Ecuadorian prisons,” said Llaque.
“If by agreement the authorities decide to return them, we have 162 convicted, so it will be a reciprocal issue. It will not create concern regarding overcrowding [carcelario], just in case,” he remarked. President Dina Boluarte has declared, for her part, that the eventual deportation of Peruvian prisoners must follow a “due process” so that the security of the nation is not at risk.
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“If that were the case, obviously they were going to go to prison,” said the president regarding the announcement by her counterpart, whom she telephoned a day following he declared internal armed conflict in the territory. Boluarte stated, likewise, that the borders “are protected” with the support of the Armed Forces and the National Police (PNP), following the officialization of the state of emergency in the bordering regions.
Noboa’s proposal has received rejection from the new president of the National Assembly of Regional Governments of Peru (ANGR), Werner Salcedo, as well as governors Luis Neyra (Piura) and Sigismundo Cruces (Tumbes), who called on the president to support an appointment with the Ecuadorian leader to stop this measure.
“I think that immediately [Boluarte] should have contact with the president [Noboa] so that this does not happen, because it would put us at a disadvantage with respect to crime. This, combined with the topic we already have. Because we have to be aware that we already have a problem with criminal gangs in Peru,” Neyra said in a press conference.
A Colombian soldier stands guard following an increase in violence in Ecuador at the Rumichaca International Bridge. Photo: REUTERS/Andrés Ceballos
Cruces, for his part, pointed out that if the measure is implemented, border surveillance should become extreme. “There we must have permanent surveillance, especially controlling the pass for all criminals who come to our sector,” he clarified during his intervention.
Organized crime in Ecuador has led an escalation of terror this week, with riots in several prisons, kidnappings, explosions, attacks and even the armed assault on a television station. The riot occurred when the Noboa administration was preparing to implement a plan to regain control of the prisons, many of them internally dominated by these groups.
The violence has moved to the streets to make the country one of the most violent in the world, with 45 intentional homicides per 100,000 inhabitants in 2023. The State Department even announced that several senior United States officials will visit the nation in the coming weeks to increase the exchange of intelligence information.
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