Criminological and normative approach to organized crime and drug trafficking in Ecuador

Abstract

The right to security, sovereignty, and peace are human rights recognized in international law and expressly enshrined in the Constitution of the Republic of Ecuador. Likewise, it is the responsibility of the State and governments to guarantee them for the population they represent and, therefore, to establish the institutional competencies of the different public forces to achieve them. This article aimed to analyze the relevance of using the Armed Forces and the National Police to tackle organized crime and, especially, drug trafficking, which has faced critics and has been under constant scrutiny due to the human risk it poses to civil society. To carry out the research, several methods were used, among which analysis and synthesis, document analysis, and legal hermeneutics stand out. These allowed reaching conclusions that can serve as a basis for defining the actions of the Armed Forces in the current Ecuadorian context. It is concluded that to achieve the restoration of a true state of peace, it is necessary to achieve a full Rule of Law, which implies constitutional order, and therefore move towards a comprehensive approach that allows combining a firm hand in repression with the strengthening of the administration of justice, the fight against corruption, investment in general and special prevention mechanisms, and international cooperation in the fight against drug trafficking and other forms of organized crime.