The Minister of Defense, Gian Carlo Loffredo, blamed the electoral season for the allegations reported in the media about anomalies in the contracts for the acquisition of helmets and vests delivered to the military. “This is a media show, we are in election season, what they end up looking for is to disunite the Armed Forces a little bit and undermine the attraction we have in the fight against organized crime groups”, said the official.

According to Loffredo, there are revelations that put national security and the lives of the troops at risk: “they are revealing things like the ballistic capacity of the protective equipment, tomorrow it is information that our enemies can obtain.”

The official said that there was a commission made up of members of the Joint Command and each of the Forces (Army, Navy and Air Force) that participated in the tests that were developed in certified laboratories in the United States.

The La Posta digital media outlet revealed that ballistic tests on bulletproof vests do not comply with the standard protection norm and also denounced that the Executive squandered 34 million dollars. The Radio Pichincha radio station for its part echoed a report of ballistic tests that indicated how the vests of the law enforcement forces do not have the expected protection level.

This accusation is added to alleged irregularities in the acquisition contract, awarded to the company High End Defense Solutions LLC (Heds).

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