Lasso asks for the resignation of the Minister of the Interior after the murder of a lawyer in a police school

The Ecuadorian president, Guillermo Lasso, announced -on national television- the first sanctions after the disappearance and murder of lawyer María Belén Bernal, a case that shook public opinion in this country, because it occurred within the Superior School Police Alberto Enríquez Gallo, located in Quito.

In a message lasting just over six minutes, Lasso reported that he had requested the resignation of the Minister of the Interior; Patricio Carrillo, a retired Police General. “He has dedicated his life and his loyalty to the ideal of a safer country. However, after the events of these last few days, I have decided that his service ends today, ”said the ruler.

Hours before, Carrillo, who was Police Commander General during the previous government, issued a harsh message on the social network Twitter: “They don’t look at work, they don’t care about the country. From the altar of the microphone they invent, they lie. Communications operators of those who robbed the Police Social Security Institute and work for the mafia…”.

Lasso explained that he asked the entire police command, made up of almost twenty generals, to make their position available, in order to evaluate their permanence or not in the Police.

The president also ordered that General Giovanni Ponce, director of Citizen Security and Public Order and fourth in the line of succession, and General Freddy Goyes, national director of Judicial Police Investigation, retire.

Likewise, he gave the Commander General of the Police, Fausto Salinas, a week to “deliver definitive results that lead to the capture of Germán Cáceres”, husband of the murdered lawyer and main suspect in the femicide. He asserted that the government will carry out the necessary processes to demote the officer because he – he said – he does not deserve to hold any rank that associates him with the Police.

“This is a mourning that knows no divisions, that we all share with the same rage,” said Lasso, who – like the Interior Minister did the day before – showed his solidarity with Bernal’s mother and relatives. “As President of the Republic, I apologize to you, because this should never happen, much less in a public building, where those who must protect us are trained,” said the head of state.

The president, Guillermo Lasso, apologized and announced measures on Friday night, after the commotion generated by the case of the lawyer María Belén Bernal

The announcement came hours after the burial of Bernal’s remains. His remains were found last Wednesday, after an exhaustive search, in a remote area of ​​a hill located just three kilometers from the police school. According to General Salinas, death would have occurred due to “strangulation and suffocation.”

The discovery of the lawyer’s body became official 11 days after her mother, Elizabeth Otavalo, reported her disappearance on Sunday, September 11. Bernal had entered the training center in the early hours of the morning to look for her husband, who worked as a cadet instructor. Since then, Cáceres has remained a fugitive.

Otavalo, in statements to the media, reiterates that what happened with María Belén constitutes a “state crime” because it happened inside a state facility. “This is going to end (…) when the criminals have paid for their guilt. My daughter is a victim, ”said her mother.

The case of María Belén Bernal, which has been followed throughout the country, once again opened the debate on violence against women and insufficient state attention to the problem. According to data from Fundación Aldea, between January 1 and September 3 of this year, there have been 206 cases of violent deaths of women for reasons of gender in the country.

Women’s groups and organizations and social organizations also reacted after the death was made official and staged a protest demanding justice on Thursday afternoon and evening. During the march, which reached the General Police Command, they complained about the way in which the events took place inside the police school and about the actions of the institution, by letting the aggressor escape. During the concentration, the cries of “murderers” were repeated to refer to the uniformed men.

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