![[Img #74664]](https://thelatestnews.world/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/James-Watson-The-controversial-genius-behind-the-double-helix-150x150.jpg)
First modification:
In addition to electing mayors and local authorities last Sunday, Ecuadorians participated in a referendum that President Guillermo Lasso submitted to define actions by his government, mainly to legalize the extradition of drug traffickers to countries like the United States. The general result has been a resounding rejection that leaves the government weakened while the candidates linked to former president Rafael Correa increase their presence.
Still without finalizing the calculation of the elections and the referendum last Sunday, Guillermo Lasso, the president of Ecuador, acknowledged this Monday that the majority of voters rejected his proposals, and incidentally his government. This referendum had the objective of putting eight proposals to a vote to solve such diverse problems that afflict the country, related to the environment, the reorganization of public institutions and electoral representation bodies, and the most controversial, the extradition of criminals related to drug trafficking. , human trafficking, arms trafficking, and migrant smuggling.
“Question one of the consultation, what it raises is the possibility of extraditing Ecuadorians for transnational crimes such as drug trafficking, not for common crimes. So, it does not mean that any Ecuadorian who commits a crime and is extraditable, but any Ecuadorian drug trafficker won by the justice system of another country due to the transnational nature of the crime of drug trafficking. I think that was not understood by the public. With a tighter question, the yes could win”, estimates Sebastián Donoso Bustamante, an academic at the University of the Americas, in Ecuador.
With the extradition “the issue of national security is not really solved, but the government’s idea is that the question serves as a threat to a kind of pressure on drug traffickers. There are several Ecuadorian drug traffickers who are called by the United States justice system. So, the idea was that it would be more difficult for them to bribe the North American justice system, as they do so easily with the Ecuadorian justice system”, he emphasizes.
In addition to the referendum, Ecuadorians elected 5,700 local authorities. The city of Guayaquil, for example, which for 31 years was governed by the Social Christian Party, is now governed by former President Rafael Correa’s left-wing party, Revolución Ciudadana. Are Ecuadorians returning to the political current of Correa?
“Right now, in some ways you can see a return from the left, but it’s not an overwhelming victory from the left either. The return of the triumphalist left is not so assured. The vote in Ecuador is tremendously volatile. No one has a guaranteed vote and it depends a lot on the circumstances of the moment. So people look for a solid alternative that has a good structure. The one that generally had a good campaign structure and a good communication structure was that of the Citizen Revolution Party, which is obviously behind the figure of Rafael Correa,” says Sebastián Donoso Bustamante.
Omar Menéndez, then a candidate for mayor of the coastal town of Puerto López, was assassinated during election day. Shot to death, the deceased was elected. Former President Rafael Correa dedicated the victory of his party in these elections to him.
