Ecuador’s President Guillermo Lasso said in a debate at the 77th session of the UN General Assembly that transnational crime requires a transnational solution.
The Ecuadorian president referred to the murder of a prosecutor in the city of Guayaquil who was handling cases involving international mafia organizations.
This event made clear that “even more cooperation” was needed.
Although he did not address the increasing insecurity in his country, he mentioned that with the increase in seizures and the sacrifice of its officials, Ecuador was proving that it deserved this international help in the fight against drug trafficking and transnational crime.
According to him, according to a World Drug Report, Ecuador has been working on seizures and has become the third country in the world with the most cocaine seizures.
However, he pointed out that estimates indicate that transnational crime moves between US$1.6 trillion and US$2.2 trillion annually, “figures equivalent to dozens of times the economic power of a country like Ecuador.”
He also asked for support in strengthening the institutions in which these officials work, given the scope of their work.
In this regard, he called for a concerted effort to combat gender-based violence, referring to the case of the recently disappeared Ecuadorian lawyer María Belén Bernal, which he said: “should be a symbol of this challenge of struggle.”
He also pointed out that his country is a vital host state for migrants in the region and is currently legalizing the status of half a million Venezuelan citizens living in Ecuador, making it one of the three main areas of settlement for this community.
In this regard, he pointed out that despite budgetary difficulties, the national government is taking care of this population “with health, education and other social services,” which is why he asked for international cooperation for this “far-reaching” process.