Seven days to go to the polls, the constitutional amendment for complementary support of the Armed Forces. to the Police is an important axis of the debate, given the reality of the internal armed conflict that Ecuador is experiencing.
We enter the last week of the campaign referendum and the constitutional referendum, that will be decided next Sunday April 21 of 2024, in which 13,654,292 citizens are invited to participate.
In it box A of the ballot is the Question 1. This, for many experts, could be considered the “crown jewel” of the election day, because it implies the approval for the Armed Forces (FF.AA.) can collaborate in a complementary way in the fight against organized crime.
The question that will modify the Constitution says, verbatim: “Do you agree with allowing the complementary support of the Armed Forces in the functions of the National Police to combat the organized crime partially reforming the Constitution?”.
It is important to specify that this question was added to the 10 questions presented by the president Daniel Noboain compliance with the opinion 7-22-RC/24 from Constitutional Courtwhich responds to the process of constitutional amendment started by the president Guillermo Lasso in November 2022 and which was approved in the second discussion by the National Assemblyon December 21, 2023.
The reform aims to add, to article 158 from Constitution of Montecristi, specifically a paragraph, which says the following: “Upon a reasoned request from the National Police, the Republic President of Ecuador may provide complementary support from the Armed Forces to the National Police. This complementary support will be provided to combat organized crime in an extraordinary and regulated manner.”
Armed Forces, nerve center
Rosie Torres, Undersecretary General of Government Management of the Presidency, explained in an interview with LA HORA that the referendum for the constitutional amendment on the Armed Forces. and support for the National Police in the fight against organized crime “is a neuralgic point of the consultation.”
He explained that thanks to this questioning, citizens will be able to “provide and generate spaces so that the members of the Armed Forces and the Police are the control agents and those who lead and can mitigate insecurity, organized crime and the entire wave of crime that is being fought from the National government”.
Torres highlighted that both the Armed Forces and the National Police need the development of tools that allow them work “as one team”. He indicated that at the same time this question would be “dignifying the work of the security forces.”
He estimated that the Armed Forces and the Police allow citizens to reach their homes with “peace of mind, with the security of having a better country,” pointing out that it continues to be “a transversal axis invest in security”.
Torres pointed out that “the people who are or are against this question are not only against improving the countryare against Ecuadorians who want to walk calmly through the streets and who we are tired of crime”.
He specified that the objective is to allow, through a technical process, to evaluate the factors and moments for the Armed Forces. intervene. “This is not improvised, is a technical process that must be carried out so that the Armed Forces. can intervene and so that there is a difference with the states of exception”.
“Unfortunate” modification
Karen Sichellawyer and academic University of the Americas (EAT), when evaluating the proposal, indicated that although the process was initiated by President Guillermo Lasso, the question that goes to the query was modified importantly by the National Assembly.
In this sense, he maintains that “the initial project was modified by the National Assembly and that modification is painful, because due to the modifications the Armed Forces. They may cooperate with the National Police for a maximum of 180 days, up to 30 more days that can be extended.”
He pointed out that the proposal approved by Parliament shows “a great lack of knowledge about how organized crime works, which is not a extraordinary phenomenon, is not an exceptional phenomenon. Have criminal gangs settled in a way permanente”.
Sichel, who was spokesperson for the ‘Yes’ during the popular consultation of former President Lasso, explained that in 2022 the Constitutional Court did not allow this question to be part of the popular consultation and had to go through the process of partial amendment through the Legislature.
He noted that Lasso’s proposal established that the Armed Forces. and the Police could work in a way would complement to fight organized crime, “following the Human Rights parameters established by the Inter-American Human Rights System”.
For the academic, this is a “unnecessary politicization of the process and this reform was passed to us without us realizing it. Unfortunately, that is how the National Assembly has acted and they did it again.” (ILS)
Use of the Armed Forces. must be exceptional
Lawyer Victor Rivadeneiraadvisor to the National Confederation of Peasant, Indigenous and Black Organizations (Fenocin), pointed out that there are various reasons that lead the organization to express its rejection of the 11 consultation questions.
In the case of box A, he pointed out that there are legal reasons that force them to express their rejection.
“We are against this reform of the Constitution because the Ecuadorian people have already spoken out in rejection and now they are taking advantage of the support that Noboa has,” he claimed.
He explained that, from a legal point of view, “the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, in several rulings, has mentioned that this type of powers of the Armed Forces must be very exceptionalthey cannot be ordinary.”
The jurist made it clear that the current consultation called by Daniel Noboa “is becoming a meter of your management and the acceptance of his government.”
He warned that in essence the consultation only has two fundamental elements: “he hourly work and the international arbitration“These two questions are what interest the business group that is currently governing us.”
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