First South American trip for Antony Blinken: Tuesday, October 19, in Quito, the highest American diplomat was greeted with great pomp by guards in blue uniforms.
Before congratulating his host, President Guillermo Lasso, who returned power to the conservative right in Ecuador, with his electoral victory last April.
"We applaud the work you are doing to fight corruption, to pursue reforms that equitably benefit the entire Ecuadorian population, the work we are doing together to fight drug trafficking and to preserve our environment as well as our climate."
"More than ever, Ecuador today shares the values that have guided the United States towards prosperity since its founding," replied the conservative president.
The visit of the head of American diplomacy comes less than 24 hours after the proclamation, by the president, of the state of emergency to fight against insecurity and drug trafficking in the country.
An announcement that provides for the mobilization of soldiers - in the streets and in 65 prisons across the country - for a period of at least 60 days.
The country, on the Pacific coast, is facing a serious prison crisis.
At the end of September, in a prison in Guayaquil, 199 detainees were massacred.
Some had been dismembered or burned in violent clashes between rival gangs linked to drug trafficking and Mexican cartels.
According to official figures, at least 238 prisoners have been killed since early 2021 in Ecuadorian prisons, overcrowded and subjected to recurrent violence for years.
Between January and August 2021, 1,427 intentional homicides were recorded in the country, or 55 more murders than those reported in the whole of 2020, according to figures from the Ministry of the Interior
“National sovereignty threatened”
On Tuesday, the armed forces were visible in the streets of the city of Guayaquil (southwest), where they were carrying out searches and identity checks, but no particular deployments were reported in Quito, the capital.
"Ecuador is going through a period of insecurity", justified Guillermo Lasso.
"National sovereignty is threatened by drug trafficking, human trafficking and illegal migration," he said.
Former General Luis Hernandez, appointed to the post of defense minister, said "the threats are here, inside" the country, citing the same scourges.
Located between Colombia and Peru - the world's main producers of cocaine - Ecuador is indeed a territory where drugs are stored and then transited, to the United States in particular.
"In the streets there is only one enemy: drug trafficking", and "in recent years, Ecuador has gone from a country of trafficking to a country that also consumes drugs," added Guillermo Lasso.
Human rights: concerns and guarantees
The state of emergency "will in no way affect the right to free expression of people and associations," said the vice-minister of governance, Juan Manuel Fuertes, on local media. "Its objective and its scope are absolutely clear: the insecurity which rages in the country (in) is at the origin", assured the vice-minister, anticipating the possible criticisms on the respect of the human rights in the country.
The operations must be "very targeted in what they seek to achieve, remain of a limited duration and, of course, take place in a manner which respects democratic values," Antony Blinken told reporters.
“President Lasso is committed to respecting democratic values during this state of emergency,” he nevertheless assured at the end of their talks.
Human Rights Watch was alarmed, however, by the presence of the military.
"The armed forces are trained for war, not for law and order and crime. It must be exceptional, temporary and strictly necessary or it will lend itself to serious abuse," tweeted José Miguel Vivanco, director for the Americas at within the NGO.
Ecuador: @LassoGuillermo decreta estado de excepción y moviliza a las FFAA.
Las FFAA están entrenadas para la guerra, no para el control del orden público y la criminalidad.
Esto debe ser excepcional, temporal, y estrictamente necesario o se prestará para grave abusos.
pic.twitter.com/QpewixxkDa
- José Miguel Vivanco (@JMVivancoHRW) October 19, 2021
In October 2019, austerity measures sparked the biggest protests in the country's history.
Faced with the anger of the street, the then president, Lenin Moreno, had also declared a state of emergency, causing concern to Amnesty International.
Clashes between the demonstrators and the police had left a dozen dead, more than 1,300 injured and resulted in 2,000 arrests.
The good Ecuadorian and Colombian students
Quito's war against drug trafficking fits right into Washington's agenda, one of whose priorities is the fight against drug trafficking on the American continent. "One of the main issues for the United States in terms of cooperation is precisely the fight against drug trafficking. The visit of the Secretary of State responds to the strengthening of these ties, but also marks his" concern "on this subject, a decrypted for AFP the Ecuadorian analyst Karen Garzon Sherdeck.
After Ecuador, the American diplomat will fly to Colombia on Wednesday, where he intends to support these two countries considered by Washington as models of good governance. The US Secretary of State "will show how countries like Ecuador and Colombia have been able to rely on their democratic values and commitments to benefit their populations," said Brian Nichols, the top American diplomat in charge of Latin America.
These declarations of friendship towards Quito and Bogota come at a time of renewed tensions with Caracas.
Indicted on eight counts, Alex Saab, a colt of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, has been extradited to the United States.
Calling the extradition a kidnapping, the Chavista president suspended the participation of the Venezuelan authorities in talks with the opposition.
These were to resume on Sunday in Mexico City.
With AFP
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