The Correísmo presidential candidate, Luisa González, has told CRO radio, from Machala, that currently “Venezuela has better living conditions than Ecuador, now” and that “Venezuelans are running back to Venezuela, because it is safer than Ecuador”.
Correísmo presidential candidate, Luisa González, on September 6, 2023.
“Just in case, Ecuadorian people, the Venezuelans are running from Ecuador, they are terrified of Ecuador, they are returning to Venezuela, do you know why? Because Venezuela has better living standards than Ecuador now,” she added with conviction.
“Are you sure?” asks the journalist.
«Yes, totally», Luisa replies.
According to data provided by the InSight Crime research foundation on organized crime, Venezuela stood out as the country in the region with the highest number of homicides per capita, with 40.4 cases per 100,000 people.
In 2022, in Ecuador, the homicide rate was 26 per 100,000 inhabitants. But by August 2023, there were already 20, with which it is estimated that by the end of the year they could close at 40 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants, equaling Venezuela as the most violent country in the region.
Venezuela has an annual inflation of 422% and the minimum living wage amounts to around five dollars a month, at the official exchange rate. Inflation in Ecuador reaches 3.5% and the minimum wage, one of the highest in the region, reaches 450 dollars a month.
Security
Luisa González differentiates organized crime from common crime. “Common crime has its origin in the lack of opportunities,” she says. «When unemployment and poverty increase, crime increases. Therefore, we are going to work on these two problems and declare the emergency in the field of security.
And then he makes a difference between emergencies and decrees of exception. «A decree of exception is not the same as an emergency. What the decree of exception does is limit human rights, this president has done it 17 times. Emergency is the mobilization of the State towards the construction of something. We are going to mobilize resources, 500 million dollars, to strengthen the National Police.
“60 percent of the National Police vehicle fleet is useless, and if it is, it has no fuel. They don’t have bulletproof vests. The emergency decree will allow me to mobilize resources to acquire vehicles, motorcycles, communication equipment, protection, weapons for the National Police and the Armed Forces », he said.
“As well as intelligence systems to monitor who is doing what. Organized crime has another logic and international coordination is also required with President Petro, because the drugs that come to the Port of Guayaquil to Europe are produced in Putumayo. That is why I have already met with the ambassadors of the European Union to coordinate intelligence together.
Lasso
González has harshly criticized the government of Guillermo Lasso and his administration.
“They are an improvised government, of course, because they do not know how to manage the state, because they come from private companies… We cannot go to an improvised government like Guillermo Lasso, who knows how to manage a company, who knows how to manage a bank , but he does not know how to guarantee the rights of Ecuadorians…”.
