The prison leak It has become one of the recurring themes of cinema. The great evasionJohn Sturges; The midnight express, de Alan Parker; Exhaust planby Mikael Håfström, and even the dystopic THX 1138by the young George Lucas, they usually appear, together with the great flight of the prison of Alcatrazstarring Clint Eastwoodin 1979, among the most recommended titles. The adventures of Ecuadorian drug trafficker Federico Gómez Quintínaka fede, they would be worth a movie if it were not a serious security problem For President Daniel Noboa, to the point of leaving him ridiculous. Fede fulfilled his sentence for murder, robo y illegal possession of arms in the Penitentiary of the coastone of the most violent penalties in a country where only 591 inmates lost their lives. Quintín placidly left the prison last Friday. He made him dressed as a military and full daylight. The scandal exploded a few hours ago, with official Noboa to China. Cinematographic escape, said the president, “It was not an oversight, it was complicity”. The rhetorical pyrotechnics of the son of the greatest Ecuadorian fortune, re -elected months ago, was refuted again by reality. His victory songs against criminal gangs had to put back in pause mode.
At the beginning of his first term, in January 2024, Adolfo Macías, aka Fito, the leader of the Choneros, escaped from the same penitentiary unit of Guayaquil where Fede was housed, who Lead the Eaglesa group that detached from the other band. When he fell as Fito, in an action of Rocamboescos trim, because he had gone to the doctor and another person returned in his name, Noboa wanted to send an energetic signal to society and declared the “State of internal conflict“That has militarized everyday life. The military presence on the streets has not stopped the death wave. Only 2,361 murders were computed in the first quarter. In front of the new scandal, the president asked that the whole be arrested prison staff “That it is suspected was involved, while the Prosecutor’s Office determines responsibilities.” 22 people have been arrested.
Repeated history
More than 3,000 uniformed have participated in the search for Fito That, turned into a ghost, maintains more than living the activity of the Choneros, main allies in Ecuador of the Sinaloa cartel. Safety matters fear that the same can happen with Fede. His head is priced at one million dollars.
“There was betrayal here”held Interior Minister John Reimbergand admitted that despite the validity of the “state of internal conflict” the prison system of the country is not in a position to face the level of current crime. “It is an ancient model.” But above all, corrupt. Reimberg himself acknowledged that despite surveillance, Mobile phones and other prohibited devices enter prisons with the lightness of a bread. “Do you know how much the income costs? Between 9,000 and 10,000 dollars.” A WhatsApp message is quoted at $ 1,000. “This is the criminal economy.” Everything seems to be tariff, which has given rise to speculation about how much Fede paid to cross the penalty door as if it left a church: a million dollars. Ecuadorian media consider that figure plausible. Reimerg has denied it without major convincing explanations.
The art of escape
Since January 2024, the Public Force has carried out half a million operations with more than 6,000 detainees that were mostly released. And those who ended in a penitentiary unit could verify to what extent is a parallel reality. Only that year, and following the example of Fito, 80 inmates escaped from the penalties. If the period 2021-2024 is taken, the number of prisoners who said goodbye to the walls, cells and requisitions, amounts to 500, in accordance with the National Service of Comprehensive Attention to Adults Private of Liberty already adolescents offenders (SNAI), which is equivalent to the escape of a prisoner per day and three per week despite the validity of the state of exception.
The political scientist Katherine Herrera Aguilar, a specialist in national security and defense issues, argues that in Ecuador the State has been “captured.” He points out that when public institutions stop fulfilling their function and begin to be based on criminal interests, “the border between legality and illegality dissolves, and in Ecuador we already cross that border.” According to Herrera, in that country there is no weak state but a strong one, but for watercolor with organized crime. Criminals do not comply with their convictions and officials are co -toped.
Last March, Noboa said he had established a “strategic alliance” with Erik Prince, the founder of Blackwatera company providing mercenariesto face the challenge of drug trafficking. The president wants to create the conditions for the return of a Nor -American military base that contributes to the same fight. For Herrera, the decision to “outsource capabilities” It does not reconstruct the country’s governance or replace deteriorated state capacities. Nor will the drama of daily violence resolve, with its incessant sequel to murders, kidnappings, extortion, recruitment of minors by the bands, and impunity. No one can guarantee that an episode like the one that allowed Fede to leave the jail disguised as military authority again.
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