Ecuador’s Interior Minister, Patricio Pazmiño, resigned due to his management in the face of the prison crisis

The Minister of Government (Interior) of Ecuador, Patricio Pazmiño, has presented his resignation this Friday after criticism received for his management in the face of the prison crisis, in which some 80 prisoners died due to a series of riots and clashes between rival gangs.

“It is my personal decision to present my irrevocable resignation”, has announced Pazmiño in a letter addressed to the President of Ecuador, Lenín Moreno, in which he has also explained that since “various sectors have unjustifiably questioned” his management, “in an act of transparency”, his defense “must be done out of office ”.

For his part, the president has expressed, through a publication on his Twitter profile, his gratitude to the minister “for the management carried out in the functions entrusted to him.

Pazmiño took office in replacement of María Paula Romo, censored and dismissed by Parliament for her management of the October 2019 protests, in which several episodes of police violence and human rights violations were recorded.

RIOTS IN FOUR PRISONS

A week ago there were a series of riots in four prisons in the country, acts that the Government considered “coordinated” in an attempt to take control of the prisons by a criminal gang.

The incident has its origins in the death of the leader of the gang ‘Los Choneros’, known as ‘Rasquiña’, in December 2020, which left a power vacuum between the criminal organization within the prisons between the different gangs.

Pazmiño’s resignation, in office since November last year, comes days after the Ecuadorian Attorney General’s Office ordered the creation of a special team to investigate what happened a week ago. in these four prisons in the country, located in the provinces of Guayas, Azuay and Cotopaxi.

Before that, Pazmiño himself appeared before the Ecuadorian Parliament for a control session together with the general commander of the Police, Patricio Carrillo, and the national director of the pressure service (SNAI), Edmundo Moncayo.

THE CONSTITUTIONAL POINTS TO THE FAILURE OF THE SYSTEM

On these facts, the plenary session of the Constitutional Court has asserted in a follow-up order that the riots “could have been avoided, since they are the product of the structural failures that the National Social Rehabilitation System presents, which have been identified from the first state of exception ”, reports ‘El Comercio’.

The agency has also started the phase of monitoring compliance with the constitutionality rulings it issued on the state of exception and the extension requested by the Government in August 2020 to confront violence in prisons.

The Constitutional Court has regretted in the document that the measures adopted in the framework of the state of exception “have not shown tangible results.”

“The responsible institutions do not have the minimum conditions to carry out an organized, efficient and sustainable management that provides structural solutions”, has pointed out the agency according to a document from the Rehabilitation Service (SNAI), which shows that “there is no public policy with a focus on Human rights and the application of its cross-cutting principles” to address the prison system.

Lenín Moreno, announced this Friday that he will appoint the Minister of Transport and Public Works until now as the new head of the Government portfolio (Interior) after the resignation of Patricio Pazmiño.

“Democratic challenges are unavoidable, when Ecuador needs us to be at its service. I thank the president for his confidence. I offer my commitment to work in citizen security and democratic governance ”, Martinez has guaranteed for his part.

Likewise, he has shown his “support” to the Ecuadorian Police in their daily work “for the benefit of peace” and is committed to “resolving those issues that affect their future.”