Ecuador: The final point

By: Beatrice E. Rangel - 16/04/2024

The night of April 5 will be recorded in the history of the world as the watershed between two eras: that of permissiveness against organized crime and that of the fight against that scourge. From that moment on, criminals will be treated as such and politically persecuted people will be protected as such.

This demarcation will be followed by violence due to the reaction of criminal gangs whose sole objective is to protect the value chain from illicit acts, but also by greater citizen mobilization in support of the institutional reinforcement of the region. Because finally a leader has made it clear what the combat is about and has assumed full responsibility for the events.

For too many decades, starting with the sinister window established in the central bank of Colombia to exchange dollars coming from illicit activities without problems until the fusion of the state with organized crime perpetrated by Jorge Glas, the process of penetration of state institutions by regional mischief had continued. without any short step. And thus the democracies of the region were engulfed by the criminal morbidity, little by little depriving citizens of security and civil protection services and then invading health, education and transportation services.

And while it is true that few agree with the way in which the operation to extract Jorge Glas from the Mexican embassy was carried out, the world today is very clear about two issues: the first: there can be no asylum for criminals. Second, democracies have instruments to defend themselves against the penetration of organized crime and they will use them.

This advance, in my opinion, has to do with the arrival of a new generation in management positions. The majority of the new generations of Latin American leaders are what we could call hemispheric citizens. Because many have completed postgraduate studies in the United States. At North American universities they have found other students from countries other than their own and that has led them to create networks in the region. Secondly, these generations practice sports which makes them much more competitive than their predecessors. Finally, they have witnessed the rise and fall of the region's democratic regimes.

All of this has led them to be much more pragmatic when making decisions, less corporatist and much more visionary. And each of them is leaving an interesting mark on the region. In Chile, Gabriel Boric has successfully managed the country's return to the democratic center and the relaunch of the economy. In El Salvador, Nayib Bukele has returned to homes the tranquility of citizen security and apparently a notable improvement in public services. In Venezuela, Maria Corina Machado has created a citizen force that for the first time has shaken the criminal regime that governs that nation. In Mexico, two competent and imaginative women fight for the presidency in a contest whose outcome will bury the oppressive feudalism established by the PRI and enjoyed by many who did not dare to make it fall. And in Ecuador Noboa has put an end to laissez faire in the face of organized crime and has shown the path to combat with instruments granted by the rule of law.

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