Police and Military Meet to ‘Smooth Things Over’

After 8 days of the confrontation between members of the Police and the Military in the operation to take out the President from the Hospital of the Police on September 30th, where at least 5 people lost their lives and more than 200 people got hurt, the dome of the Police and the Military met on Thursday to “smooth things over” and coordinate security measures and defense actions for the country.

“We did not send anyone to attack the National Police” said Ernesto González, Chief of the Joint Command of the Armed Forces to the Press after the meeting, who also added that they “went to rescue the President, [their] staff went there with riot material. Infiltrators had another performance and we had to use a self-defense.”

Along with Ernesto González, several important members from both the Military and the Police met on Thursday. Patricio Cárdenas, Aland Molestina and Leonardo Barreiro, Army, Navy and Air Force Commanders respectively, visited Patricio Franco, the new police commander in order to clarify the military’s involvement in the operation.

González pointed out that the Police and the Military are both very important institutions for National Security and that they deserve combined actions. The Head of the Armed Forces also explained the position of the Military regarding the request they made to the government that same day to revise the Public Service Law. “We had spoken about this issue, because we considered that the Article 115 of the Law was a little vague, a bit generalized” said González, but he confirmed that now the content of the Act “is clear for them”.

The consequences of the Police uprising in Ecuador are getting even more serious, since Marco Freire, District Attorney affirmed that the arrest warrant is not only for the rebelled police officers, but also for some civilians. According to the Public News Agency Andes, Pablo Guerrero, a lawyer that’s close to former President Lucio Gutiérrez and Alejandra Cevallos, Alternate Legislator of the right-wing party Partido Social Cristiano were summoned to surrender their claims.

Guerrero has been pointed out by the Government as the one responsible for the incidents that took place in Last Thursday’s uprising. Both Guerrero and Cevallos have been shown in footage from Ecuador TV of a group of demonstrators who violently accessed the building of the TV CHannel by breaking doors, windows and causing several other damages.