Previously, Noboa explained that the construction of these facilities would be in the same style as those built by Nayib Bukele’s government in El Salvador, and ratified the proposal on Wednesday amid the series of criminal acts that led him to decree the existence of an armed internal conflict.

The Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of the Ecuadorian Amazon rejected the idea of placing a prison in Pastaza, a territory largely occupied by indigenous communities, since it violates the rights to prior, free and informed consultation and consent, as established by the Constitution.

Former president Rafael Correa, who advocated supporting the current ruler in the midst of the situation of insecurity, considered that the construction of megaprisons to emulate Bukele is “just marketing”; “It’s selling smoke,” Correa said, and considered it more effective to place signal jammers in prisons, tighten controls for entering prisons and, even more so, purge the officials in charge of these tasks.

On January 7th, the leader of the Los Choneros gang, Adolfo Macías (aka Fito), escaped from the Guayaquil Regional Prison, sparking a series of violent events in detention centers and on the streets, such as the kidnapping and murder of police officers.

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