A presidential release informed that the mayor of Salinas, Dennis Córdova, offered that coastal town to be the site for the project, because his municipality sees building contracting as “a priority representing progress and opportunities.”
According to Córdova, building the penitentiary infrastructure envisions significant economic and social benefits for the community of the chosen site, as Salinas boasts 60 percent of rural territory.
The Ministry of Government accepted the bidding by the local administration and chose to move the project for the second maximum security prison to that city, given the fact Santa Elena is already hosting then construction of a precinct unit on its territory.
The Noboa administration’s decision comes on the fifteenth consecutive day of demonstrations by the inhabitants of Archidona and neighboring towns, who had been protesting the prison’s erections with road closures at several spots.
“The Government has heard the clamor of the Amazonian people,” celebrated the mayor of Archidona, Amanda Grefa, talking to Radio Pichincha station.
On December 10, 2024, the Service for the Attention of Persons Deprived of Liberty and Adolescent Offenders (SNAI) awarded the construction of the prison for 52 million dollars on land surrounded by educational centers.
On Monday, residents of Archidona marched to Tena, the capital of the province of Napo, in rejection of the plan, after which indigenous communities of the neighboring province of Pastaza joined the protests and blocked the Puyo – Macas road, a key highway in the region.
The Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of the Ecuadorian Amazon said that prisons in Ecuador, far from being rehabilitation spaces, have become centers where criminal gangs operate and are far from being an effective solution to the root causes of violence.
Social groups and local leaders said that a new prison in Archidona would have an impact on the natural environment, the economy and nearby educational institutions, where around five thousand children and adolescents study.
Noboa presented the idea of building two new maximum-security prisons as part of the Phoenix Plan, as he called his questioned strategy against violence and organized crime.
Currently, the Executive is building one of these maximum-security prisons in the coastal province of Santa Elena, with a capacity for 800 inmates, on a 52-million dollar budget and scedule to open in 2025.
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