The President of Ecuador, Daniel Noboa, on Monday January 29 ordered the extradition of all foreign prisoners incarcerated in the country, which is in the grip of an acute prison crisis against a backdrop of the growing influence of drug traffickers.
He ordered the SNAI prison authority to carry out the necessary administrative procedures for foreigners to serve their sentences
"in their country of origin or nationality"
, in a decree signed on Monday.
Daniel Noboa argued that the country's prisons only have 30,200 places for more than 33,000 inmates.
A census carried out in 2022 established that more than 10% of people detained in Ecuador were of foreign nationality.
Quito declared a state of emergency on January 8 after the escape of a gang leader, Adolfo Macias known as “Fito,” sparked an unprecedented wave of criminal violence across the country.
Gangs linked to drug trafficking and involving Colombians and Mexicans in particular are waging a merciless war even in the prisons, where since the start of the year at least 20 people have been killed and where some 200 police officers and guards have been taken into custody. hostages.
In mid-January, Daniel Noboa announced the extradition of some 1,500 Colombian prisoners, a measure rejected by Bogota which had warned that those unilaterally repatriated would be released as soon as they crossed the border.