Quito, Dec 15 (EFE).- Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa said Friday that his government is considering deporting some 1,500 foreign prisoners who have been sentenced to at least five years in prison so they can finish their sentences in their countries of origin.
After meeting with local authorities in Guayaquil, Noboa anticipated this possible measure by his administration to reduce tensions and overcrowding in some Ecuadorian prisons.
“This is a country of peace that invites everyone to visit, there are even people who come with all the desire to work and do things well, but those who come to do things wrong leave,” he said in statements reproduced by the Secretariat of Communication of the Presidency.
According to the prison census carried out in 2023, Ecuador houses more than 3,000 foreigners in its prisons, 10.4% of the total national prison population, of which 2,900 were men and 345 women.
Venezuelans, Colombians and Peruvians make up 80% of the foreigners imprisoned in Ecuador, according to the president.
He also claimed that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has already contacted his counterparts from these three countries to complete the procedures and finalize the transfer.
Noboa also insisted on his proposal to build two maximum security prisons “based on successful models from other countries,” including Mexico and El Salvador.
The president explained that, according to the construction companies, the construction of these facilities will take between ten and twelve months.
“We hope to start in February, and it will be in isolated areas, to deconcentrate what today has become the crime factory that is the Litoral Penitentiary,” Noboa said, referring to Ecuador’s largest and most populous prison, located in Guayaquil.
Litoral has been the scene of the worst episodes in the series of prison massacres, where more than 400 prisoners have been murdered since 2020 in clashes between rival gangs.
Noboa has also mentioned “floating” prisons as a temporary option to solve overcrowding until the two new rehabilitation centers are in place.
But he clarified that these floating prisons would also be used in the medium term to reduce overcrowding in the prison system, since the design and construction of these boats would also take time. EFE
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