Elections marred by escalating organised crime violence, surge in attacks on journalists and media workers

Introduction

Ecuador’s civic space is rated as obstructed by the CIVICUS Monitor. Recently, the country was added to the Watch List in September 2023 due to the serious and rapid decline in respect for civic freedoms.

2023 Ecuadorian general elections

As previously reported by the CIVICUS Monitor, on 17th May 2023, President Guillermo Lasso decreed the dissolution of the country’s unicameral parliament using a constitutional clause known as “cross-death”, which allows for the dissolution of the legislature and a call for new legislative and presidential elections. Following this, on 20th August 2023, over 10 million Ecuadorians participated in the first round to elect a new president, vice-president, and 137 members of the National Assembly amid a wave of violence that has seen homicide rates reach record highs.

Luisa González of the left-wing Citizens Revolution Movement party (Movimiento Revolución Ciudadana, RC) emerged victorious in the first round with 33.5 per cent of the votes, while Daniel Noboa of the right-wing National Democratic Action Alliance (Acción Democrática Nacional, ADN) secured 23.66 per cent of the votes.

On 15th October 2023, Ecuadorians headed back to the polls for the presidential runoff, with centre-right candidate Daniel Noboa securing 52.3 per cent of the votes. More than 10 million voters cast their ballots in the presidential election. Daniel Noboa won the election by pledging renewal and vowing to address polarisation surrounding former president Rafael Correa’s legacy. However, during his anticipated 18-month administration, the legislative balance of power is expected to remain similar to that which led to the downfall of his predecessor.

Elections dominated by spiralling violence against political figures driven by organised crime

The political violence crisis has been exacerbated by the murder of presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio, as well as other violent attacks on journalists and political figures.

On 9th August, former investigative journalist and presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio was murdered after receiving threats from members of organised crime groups in the previous weeks. Villavicencio was killed while he was attending a rally in Quito, surrounded by members of the State Security Forces and under the protection of procedures mandated by the National Electoral Council for presidential candidates. Several other people were injured in the attack.

The following day, in the aftermath of the assassination of Fernando Villavicencio, the government issued Decree 841, announcing a 60-day State of Emergency, which temporarily limited the right of peaceful assembly and suspended the inviolability of residence and correspondence. However, within hours, the government removed those restrictions through Decree 843. On the same day, two unknown armed men attempted to shoot at Estefany Puente, the candidate for the Popular Unity party (Unidad Popular), as she was travelling in a vehicle in the centre of Quevedo, Los Ríos province.

On 17th August, Daniel Noboa and his team escaped unharmed after a shooting took place on his campaign caravan. Additionally, on 18th September, Luisa González denounced an attempt on her life and filed a complaint with the Attorney General’s Office in Quito. González reported that on 30th August, a plan to attack her was averted after the authorities arrested several people in possession of weapons and ammunition at a political rally in which she was due to participate. In testimony given at a public hearing, one of the arrested men confessed that he had three grenades in his backpack, which he intended to detonate at the rally to attack González.

Due to the increased security risk, on 20th August, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights granted precautionary measures to Christian Zurita, journalist and presidential candidate, and three members of his electoral campaign team, whom it deems to be at serious, urgent risk of suffering irreparable harm to their human rights.

According to Citizen Observatory of Political Violence (Observatorio Ciudadano de Violencia Política, OCVP), violence against political figures has surged in Ecuador with 886 attacks recorded in 2022 and 2023, with women disproportionately affected. In the context of the electoral process, spanning from May to September 2023, 21 attacks took place with 24 per cent directed towards women and 76% towards men. On average, a new attack occurred every 5 days throughout the electoral period.

The scale of the violence is unprecedented. In 2023, the Institute for Economics and Peace reported that Ecuador has experienced the largest deterioration in the Global Peace Index due to a surge in violent crime. The country’s overall score deteriorated by 6.9 per cent, leading to a fall in rankings of 24 places to 97th overall. “Instances of violent crime became more frequent in Ecuador over the past year owing to the rise in power and prominence of organised crime groups, and a subsequent surge in homicide.”

In addition, Ecuador has long been plagued by prison violence. Following clashes, including gunfire and explosions, between organised crime groups at the Penitenciaría del Litoral prison in the city of Guayaquil, Ecuador’s president, Guillermo Lasso, declared a 60-day state of emergency throughout the country’s prisons and authorised the armed forces to retake control of jails.

Expression

Violence against journalists and media workers

Journalists and media workers have come under significant violence. According to local organisation FUNDAMEDIOS, 197 incidents against freedom of speech and other fundamental freedoms were documented during the first nine months of 2023. In particular, the period between July and September 2023 marked the highest number since 2020, with 65 incidents. During the electoral contest, at least 52 incidents were recorded, most of them took place in the digital space. The most prevalent form of violence was stigmatising discourse, with 13 cases, followed closely by verbal aggression with 10 cases. The main perpetrators were non-state actors and unknown individuals.

Some of these cases are summarised below:

• On 5th July, journalist Cinthya Samaniego of La Prensa was subjected to intimidation by the prefect of Chimborazo, Hermel Tayupanda Cuvi. According to reports, the journalist was trapped in the prefect’s office along with four advisors and the head of government, while Tayupanda interrupted her with shouting, preventing her from asking questions. Samaniego had requested an interview with the prefect as part of an investigation into alleged requests made by him to residents of Riobamba in exchange for infrastructure works in their neighbourhoods.
• On 10th July, the journalist for the “Expresso” newspaper, Emilia Sánchez, was verbally assaulted by the Secretary General of the Public Administration, Sebastian Corral, during a press conference. She had inquired about the alleged bribery attempt of the Interior Minister regarding the purchase of bulletproof vests. Corral demanded that the journalist delete the recording and threatened her with retaliation.
• On 11th July, online death threats were made against Wilson Cabrera, a journalist and the director of “Conectados”, a digital media outlet. According to the Network of Independent Journalists (Red de Periodistas Libres, RPL) the threats relate to publications made by the digital media outlet regarding alleged unfitness of officials holding positions in the Morona Santiago Province prefecture and irregularities within the entity, such as the purchase of machinery at inflated prices. These threats have already been reported to the Prosecutor's Office by the journalist.
• On 19th July, journalist Ramón Véliz of Capital TV in Manabi was physically assaulted by the security personnel of presidential candidate Luisa González. The incident occurred during a political rally in Portoviejo while the journalist was attempting to ask the candidate a question.
• On 23rd August, media outlets and journalists in Bolívar were threatened by organised crime members and forced to disseminate a video containing death threats aimed at third parties.
• On 28th August, the Ecuavisa media team was brazenly snatched by three unidentified individuals while they were preparing to broadcast live from outside the Mariana de Jesus Hospital in Guayaquil.
• On 31st August, Cuban journalist Alondra Santiago was verbally assaulted and intimidated by a stranger who uttered sexist and xenophobic epithets against her, while she was outside a restaurant in Guayaquil. Santiago hosts “Ingobernables”, a digital political programme aimed at promoting democratic and participatory public opinions.

• On 15th October, several journalists, including Xavier Rodriguez of "Radio Sucre," were physically attacked while attempting to cover the arrival of presidential candidate Daniel Noboa, accompanied by his wife who was exercising her right to vote. Noboa's private security prevented the press from covering the event with ease, using physical force and blows.

Death threats force at least two journalists to leave the country

On 25th July, the digital news outlet La Posta announced that journalists Andersson Boscán and Mónica Velásquez had left the country due to death threats. The situation of insecurity and threats arose from the journalistic investigations published by La Posta in the so-called “El Gran Padrino” case, which exposed an alleged corruption network within public enterprises and Albanian organised crime.

Velázquez and Boscán said that the threats began in October 2022, following the investigation that implicated the government of President Guillermo Lasso in embezzlement of public funds and led to the president’s impeachment. The reporters also declared that the intimidation even included photographs of their underage daughters. In response to information from international sources, confirmed by local police sources, that members of an Albanian criminal organisation had entered the country intending to assassinate them, the journalists decided to flee Ecuador with their daughters.

Civil society organisations call for protection of freedom of expression

On 7th September, civil society organisations, journalists and media workers issued a joint statement criticising the Ecuadorian government for its lack of effort in providing the necessary mechanisms to protect individuals exercising their freedom of expression. They also established the Mesa de Articulación para la Protección de Periodistas (Articulation Table for the Protection of Journalists), representing a voluntary alliance to create effective networks to address cases of imminent risk to the lives and freedom of journalists in the course of their work.

Peaceful Assembly

Violent clashes between police and locals protesting a planned copper and gold mine

On 14th July, protesters took to the streets to denounce a new environmental consultation process in Las Naves, centre of Ecuador, after outgoing President Guillermo Lasso approved Decree 754, a controversial decree shaping how environmental consultations are carried out. As previously reported by the CIVICUS Monitor, the decree reforms the Regulations to the Organic Environmental Code. According to Mongabay, the decree may fast-track consultations to green-light large-scale infrastructure projects, including the protested El Domo-Curipamba mine, set to be the country’s third large-scale mine.

The National Anti-Mining Front (Frente Nacional Antiminero), which includes indigenous sectors, said that at least two people were detained and ten were injured in clashes with the police. According to the source, 300 police officers fired tear gas and stones at the crowd, with one elderly woman suffering a fractured ankle from a rock. Also, at least three police officers were injured.

National and international organisations have condemned the decree and the violence used to implement the consultation process. In a series of press conferences, CONAIE and the National Anti-Mining Front, among others, have denounced the state’s repression.

On 24th July, a similar protest occurred in Sigchos, Cotopaxi province, where clashes between police and military forces and anti-mining protesters resulted in at least five people injured.

Following these protests, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, declared that according to international human rights standards, indigenous peoples must be consulted about the use of their lands: "The directly affected people by mining projects must be heard, not repressed," he said, and added that measures based on human rights that address the root causes of violence will ensure public security and social cohesion.https://monitor.civicus.org/explore/attacks-and-threats-against-journalists-continue/

“Not one woman less!”: women march against gender-based violence

On 11th September, hundreds of women and members of feminist movements and human rights organisations took to the streets of Quito in rejection of gender-based violence. The mobilisation took place one year after the femicide of lawyer María Belén Bernal by her spouse, a police officer.

They marched with placards and posters that read “We Want to Live” (Vivas Nos Queremos) and “Not One Woman Less” (Ni Una Menos). Also, they called for comprehensive public policies to address the issue of violence against women in the country, highlighting that a woman is killed every 23 hours.

Association

Yasuní popular consultation

On 20th August, Ecuadorians voted in favour of protecting the Yasuní National Park and the Chocó Andino Biosphere Reserve by rejecting oil drilling and metal mining in these sensitive ecosystems. The results showed that 59 per cent of voters chose to leave the oil underground, and 68 per cent supported banning artisanal metal mining in the Chocó Andino area. The Yasuní National Park, designated by UNESCO as a biosphere reserve and listed as a Ramsar conservation site, is one of the most biodiverse areas on the planet and forms part of the ancestral territory of the Waorani peoples and at least two Indigenous Peoples in Voluntary Isolation (PIAV) of Ecuador, the Tagaeri-Taromenane.

The National Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (Confederación de Nacionalidades Indígenas del Ecuador, CONAIE)—the country’s largest Indigenous organisation—celebrated the “Yes vote” triumph in the popular consultations. In a public statement, they emphasised that: “As Ecuadorian people we decided to save life, to raise awareness with our brothers in voluntary isolation Tagaeri, Taromenane and Dukagaeri, to vote YES to save their territory, their lives, their food sovereignty, their medicines in the sacred forest. Yes is a respite for the Yasuní and the Andean Chocó, ecosystems of enormous biodiversity.”

They consider this result to be a strong message to stop extractivism and move towards an economic model that prioritises respect for nature. However, President Lasso said that it would not be possible to implement this decision and that they are not willing to see an end to oil production in Yasuní.

The president's statements sparked a significant political controversy, as non-compliance with the popular decision runs counter to democratic will and the judiciary. The Constitutional Court, in endorsing the referendum, directed that, in the event of a “Yes” vote, the Ecuadorian government must cease all oil operations in the ITT block, within the Yasuní National Park, within a maximum period of one year.

Human rights defender receives award for fighting modern slavery

In May 2023, Segundo Ordóñez, a peasant farmer cultivating abaca (Manila hemp), has been honoured with the 2023 Human Rights Defenders at Risk Award by Frontline Defenders. This recognition is attributed to his leadership in addressing a case of modern slavery against fellow peasant farmers in Ecuador.

Since 2018, when the case was reported to the Ecuadorian authorities, Ordóñez has emerged as one of the most prominent figures in the battle against “Furukawa Plantaciones C.A.” This company, already sanctioned by the Ecuadorian justice system, subjected hundreds of individuals to living and working in overcrowded conditions, devoid of basic services such as water and electricity, receiving minimal salaries, and lacking contracts or social security.