Ecuador deports more than 800 Colombian inmates as Bogota cries foul
In 2024, Ecuadoran President Daniel Noboa announced his intention to deport Colombian inmates to ease overcrowding in the country's prisons. Small groups were transferred starting in April.
But Colombian President Gustavo Petro opposed the move, saying that a joint plan was needed to safeguard the prisoners' rights.
More than 800 prisoners were deported through the Rumichaca border crossing in Carchi province, Governor Diana Pozo told reporters at the site.
The inmates, wearing orange uniforms, waited in line to reenter their home country under the watchful eye of Ecuadoran police and military personnel.
Early in the day, some in shorts and t-shirts did exercises while waiting for their turn to cross the border in the chilly Andean air, saying "We want to cross, we want to cross."
On Friday, the government in Bogota lodged a formal complaint with Quito, saying such a move without prior agreement was a violation of international law and an "unfriendly gesture."
A source in the Carchi governor's office who spoke to AFP on condition of anonymity said the mass deportation began on Friday, and the 870 inmates slated for expulsion represented about 60 percent of all Colombians in Ecuador's prisons.
Juan Morales, an official in the Colombian town of Ipiales, said that authorities had to scramble to handle the influx of people, because Ecuador had not informed them of the deportations.
Ecuador's foreign ministry said Saturday that Bogota was told about the plan on July 8.
The mayor of the border town of Ipiales, Amilcar Pantoja, told the media on Friday that prisoners without pending legal cases in Colombia would be released.
Drug trafficking gangs operating in Ecuador -- some involving Colombian criminals -- have turned the country into one of the most violent in Latin America.
The homicide rate has jumped from six per 100,000 people in 2018 to 38 in 2024, among the highest in the region.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
News.com.au
an hour ago
- News.com.au
Man slaps woman across the face at airport in shock footage
Shocking footage shows the moment an irate man strikes a woman across the face inside an airport terminal in Colombia after she refused to give up her seat so he could sit next to his wife. Claudia Segura, a human rights defence lawyer, was working on her laptop before her flight at El Dorado International Airport in Bogotá on Sunday, when she was approached by Héctor Santacruz. Santacruz could be seen standing over Ms Segura allegedly telling her, 'get up or I'll get you up', before suddenly striking her across the left side of her face with his phone in his hand. Shocked passengers immediately got up to defend Ms Segura as one man pushed and shoved Santacruz away from the woman. Others could be heard yelling at Santacruz before his wife Karen de Santacruz stood up and got involved. She grabbed their belongings as Santacruz was handcuffed and escorted by an airport police officer out of the terminal. A separate video shows Ms Segura, who suffered soft tissue trauma, laying on her back while she was tended to by an airport worker, According to her lawyer, Maité Bayona, 'other factors have been diagnosed, for which appointments have been scheduled with specialists'. Bayona added that their client, who is a contractor for the Bogotá City Hall, may also require psychological therapy, 'because she is very upset as a result of this attack and the violation of her rights that she experienced last Sunday'. The lawyer confirmed a criminal complaint has been filed. Ms Segura, who is a government contractor, expressed her frustration at the handling of the incident by airport staff. She told local publication El Tiempo she was waiting to board her flight and was looking for a place to sit so that she could continue to work on her laptop. 'When I got to the waiting area, everything was completely full, and I only saw one empty chair,' she said. 'I didn't have any bags or clothes on me to indicate it was occupied, so I sat down.' Ms Segura said Santacruz's wife Karen told her that the seat was occupied but she countered by telling her that it was not occupied. She had just finished a work-related phone call when Santacruz allegedly threatened her, demanding she 'get up'. 'He hits me on the hand, knocks off my phone, and hits me hard in the face and head,' she recalled. 'The magnitude of the impact knocked my earring off.' Ms Segura said that the police took her to a local urgent care centre in the town of Engativá for a medical evaluation and that she had to share the same vehicle as her attacker. 'I am affected and very afraid,' she said. Meanwhile, Santacruz's wife Karen, who owns a design business, has since spoken out about the incident condemning the actions of her husband – before deleting her Instagram account. 'The person shown physically assaulting a woman is my husband. And you don't know how much it hurts me to say this out loud,' she said in a video apology on Wednesday. 'And it really hurts me as a woman, as a mother, as the founder of Khala, because all of this goes against what we want, what we've been working on for so many years. 'I know that when things like this happen, it's easy to point fingers, judge, and dismiss. But I also know that many of us have made mistakes at some point in our lives. 'But as the old saying goes, let he who is without sin cast the first stone. This doesn't mean it's right, because it isn't.' She went on to say she does not 'condone' or 'approve of it', and 'I won't remain silent'. 'I reject it from the bottom of my heart because I believe in dignity, in boundaries, and in respect.'
The Australian
11 hours ago
- The Australian
Terrified by Trump raids, LA's undocument migrants hide at home
For over a month, Alberto has hardly dared to leave the small room he rents in someone's backyard for fear of encountering the masked police who have been rounding up immigrants in Los Angeles. "It's terrible," sighed the 60-year-old Salvadoran, who does not have a US visa. "It's a confinement I wouldn't wish upon anyone." To survive, Alberto -- AFP agreed to use a pseudonym -- relies on an organization that delivers food to him twice a week. "It helps me a lot, because if I don't have this... how will I eat?" said Alberto, who has not been to his job at a car wash for weeks. The sudden intensification of immigration enforcement activity in Los Angeles in early June saw scores of people -- mostly Latinos -- arrested at car washes, hardware stores, on farms and even in the street. Videos circulating on social media showed masked and heavily armed men pouncing on people who they claimed were hardened criminals. However, critics of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) sweeps say those snatched were only trying to earn a meagre wage in jobs that many Americans don't want to do. The raids -- slammed as brutal and seemingly arbitrary -- sparked a wave of demonstrations that gripped the city for weeks, including some that spiraled into violence and vandalism. Alberto decided to hole up in his room after one such raid on a car wash in which some of his friends were arrested, and subsequently deported. Despite being pre-diabetic, he is hesitant to attend an upcoming medical appointment. His only breath of fresh air is pacing the private alley in front of his home. "I'm very stressed. I have headaches and body pain because I was used to working," he said. In 15 years in the United States, Trump's second term has turned out to be "worse than anything" for him. - 'Ghost town' - Trump's immigration offensive was a major feature of his re-election campaign, even winning the favor of some voters in liberal Los Angeles. But its ferocity, in a place that is home to hundreds of thousands of undocumented workers, has taken the city by surprise. Faced with mounting raids, migrants are limiting their movement as much as possible. In June, the use of the public transportation system -- a key network for the city's poorer residents -- dropped by 13.5 percent compared to the previous month. "As you're driving through certain neighborhoods, it looks like a ghost town sometimes," said Norma Fajardo, from the CLEAN Carwash Worker Center, a non-profit organization that supports these workers. It has joined forces with other groups to deliver hundreds of bags of food every week to those afraid to step outside. "There is a huge need for this," said the 37-year-old American. "It's very saddening and infuriating. Workers should be able to go to work and not fear getting kidnapped." In June, ICE agents arrested over 2,200 people in the Los Angeles area, according to internal documents analyzed by AFP. About 60 percent of them had no criminal record. Given the colossal resources recently allocated to ICE by Congress -- nearly $30 billion to bolster immigration enforcement, including funding to recruit 10,000 additional agents -- Fajardo says she is not expecting any let up. - 'New normal' - "It seems like this is the new normal," she sighed. "When we first heard of an ICE raid at a car wash, we were in emergency crisis mode. Now we are just really accepting that we need to plan for the long term." Food assistance has also become essential for Marisol, a Honduran woman who has been confined to her building for weeks with 12 family members. "We constantly thank God (for the food deliveries) because this has been a huge relief," says the 62-year-old Catholic, who has not attended Mass in weeks. Marisol -- not her real name -- has hung up curtains on the windows at her home entrance to block any view from outside. She forbids her grandchildren from opening the door and worries enormously when her daughters venture out to work a few hours to provide for the family's needs. "Every time they go out, I pray to God that they come back, because you never know what might happen," she said. Marisol and her family fled a Honduran crime gang 15 years ago because they wanted to forcibly recruit her children. Now, some of them wonder if it's worth continuing to live in the United States. "My sons have already said to me: 'Mom, sometimes I would prefer to go to Europe.'" rfo/hg/aks
News.com.au
3 days ago
- News.com.au
Ex-beauty queen shot dead in front of baby daughter and her partner while in Ecuador
An ex-beauty queen has been shot dead while travelling with her young daughter and partner in Ecuador amid the country's ongoing struggle with drug cartel violence. Esther Gabriela Murillo Cruz, 25, was ambushed by two men on a motorbike who sprayed the vehicle she was travelling in with bullets. The model was rushed to a local hospital in Manta just after 3am on Saturday where she was treated for gunshot wounds to her vital organs. But despite medics' best efforts, she was soon pronounced dead. Her 30-year-old partner and one-year-old baby are also believed to have been hospitalised in the attack, local reports said. The ex-beauty queen had been travelling on the Circunvalación highway, in Manabí – one of Ecuador's hardest hit cities by organised crime. Authorities have since launched an urgent investigation into the attack to determine the perpetrators and their motive. Esther won three local beauty competitions and became the 'Queen of Marabi province' in 2018. News of her death has left her tens of thousands social media followers devastated – with many calling on leaders to do more to combat crime in the area. One distraught commenter said: 'How sad! And such a girl, with a whole life ahead of her!' While another wrote: 'Comfort and strength to your family'. The embattled country has seen its murder rate rise eight-fold as brutal gangs battle to control the cocaine trade. Earlier this year, a man believed to be a British national was lynched and burnt alive in a popular eco-tourism area on the country's border with Colombia. A mob stormed a police station in Sucumbios Province where he was being held in custody for an alleged shooting, before dragging him out and setting him alight in front of police officers too terrified to intervene. The shocking scenes are all too common for a nation whose murder rates now rank among the highest in the world, with civilians regularly caught in the crossfire and streets turning lawless as cops struggle to keep up with criminality and violence. In 2023 alone, the country saw more than 8,000 deaths, an eightfold rise compared to 2018, putting it above other nations famed for their cartel violence such as Mexico and Colombia. And a new record for the most killings in a single month was broken in January, with 781 killings. After a series of riots saw the gangs take control of prisons, rival factions have waged bitter warfare against each other, carrying out brutal medieval-style executions and hanging bodies from bridges to mark their territory and terrify rivals. Despite attempts by the country's government and armed forces to crack down on the cartels, Ecuador remains the world's number one exporter of cocaine. Televised takeover The most dramatic example of the escalating violence occurred in January last year, when masked gunmen broke into a television studio, threatening the presenter while live on air and trying to force him to read out a warning to police. 'They were kids – kids with guns,' the presenter, Luis Calderón, later told the Guardian. 'They seemed proud of what they were doing … it was as if they were playing a game – only with extremely dangerous and lethal weapons,' he recalled. Police successfully made 13 arrests following the attack, which also happened in the port city of Gauyaquil. Then in May, a further eight were killed after a bar was sprayed with bullets where people had gathered to celebrate a birthday in the coastal province of Santa Elena. Many of the shootings are carried out in a display of dominance, terrifying rivals and keeping local residents subdued. Gangs such as Los Tiguerones, Los Lobos, and Los Choneros have even resorted to gruesome tactics such as cutting out the hearts of captured rivals and showing off the killings on social media. Other victims may find themselves being hanged from bridges, their limp bodies serving as a warning to anyone entering the cartel's territory. While South America has long been associated with drug-related violence, Ecuador for years remained relatively peaceful and free from any serious gang violence.
