National defense looks at ‘new threats’

Ecuadornews:

In the coming days there will be changes in the leadership of the Armed Forces and a new national defense policy contained in the third’White Paper’. The first document was prepared in 2002 and the last in 2006.

The new document will come, possibly, from the hand of thenew head of the Joint Command and the new commanders of the Navy and theEcuadorian Air Force (FAE), whose functions conclude on December 9.

The text, say the authorities, takes into account the ‘new’ threats that affect the security of countries like Ecuador. Organized crime, drug trafficking, terrorism and irregular migration flows are on the list, according to General Washington Buñay, deputy secretary of National Defense.

Added corruption and crimes derived from activities such as illegal mining, present in the border areas. Also money laundering.

A sample of the presence of these irregular groups was already evident in the first four months of this year, with 10 terrorist attacks that led to the death of four sailors, a newspaper team of El Comercio newspaper and a couple kidnapped and murdered. The event was recognized by the narcoterrorist front Óliver Sinisterra, led by Wálther Arízala, aka Guacho, a dissident who did not accept the process of demobilization of the FARC.

That was one of the threats that the country faced as part of the final phase of the peace process in Colombia.

The Minister of Defense, Oswaldo Jarrín, also mentioned theincrease in the chain of drug trafficking and the criminal economy. Heexplained that this provokes “transnational criminal violence andviolation of sovereignty”.

The idea of the new ‘White Paper’ of the defense is to rethink the roles of the Armed Forces in military security operations and support the Police and analyze the threats to state security on the common border between Colombia and Ecuador.

Since June, this rethinking has already been made on the border of Esmeraldas with the creation of the Joint Task Force, stationed in that province as a result of the increase in insecurity.

The minister mentioned that the strategic objectives and the defense policy of the zone included, among other priorities: counteract illegal financial economic activities, reduce socioeconomic vulnerability, control an orderly and safe migration and analyze the capacity of the viability, telecommunications systems and communication.

The experts will be meeting until today in Quito to lay the foundations of the new book. Chancellor José Valencia, who will speak about the foreign policy of the State in the field of defense, will be one of the speakers of this day.

On Thursday and Friday, the seminar will go to Guayaquil to analyze transnational crime and its impact on security and defense. Threats to maritime security and strategies to combat them enrich the agenda.

In both meetings there will be specialized working groups that will systematize the exhibitions, prepare the conclusions and proposals for the Defense Policy, which will be ready in December.

Colonel Mario Pazmiño, former chief of Army Intelligence, recalled that before, for regular war, the threats were linked to the southern border, arms and ammunition trafficking, drug trafficking on the northern border and the creation of international insurgent groups They could operate in the country.

The arguments

In 2002

2002 projected Ecuador into a scenario in which efforts to strengthen institutionality would continue, despite social, political and economic difficulties. He said that social peace will prevail, but marked by pressure factors, which appear in the form of strikes and other events that alter public order.

In 2006

The ‘White Paper’ prepared in 2006 pointed out thatsecurity and defense policies “face problems and challenges related tospecific regional and sub-regional environments and their insertion in thevarious economic and political integration processes that take place in thecontinent.” (I)

Source: https://www.expreso.ec/actualidad/defensa-nacional-migracion-fronteras-control-EL2481776