Vizueta promises “debugging” in Justice
Ecuadornews:
Considers that the conditions of the country have changed and for that reason does not discard to return to be postulated in the contest for General State Attorney.
Recognized as a lawyer by politicians and people opposed to the government of Rafael Correa, Dr. Juan Vizueta Ronquillo has been since last Thursday the new general director of the Council of the Transitory Judiciary. In dialogue with EL TELÉGRAFO he exposes his objectives in these functions and his vision of the Ecuadorian justice system.
How was your designation given?
Some proposals had been generated, mine seems to have left the Pichincha Bar Association and my name had been well received by the members of the Council of the Transitory Judiciary.
Does not having support from 2 of the 5 members worry you?
No, in no way, I think it would be imprecise to point out that they did not support. At the time of possession they were very clear in saying that what they had done was typical of a democratic exercise, but that the support was one hundred percent.
What were your first actions?
First to try to find out to know what the priority actions to adopt are, taking into account that the director of the Judicial Council is not only the legal representative but the person in charge of the entire administrative and financial field.
Have you received any report on how the address is located?
No. But in the first hours of management what I have asked is to establish the damming in contracts, administrative summaries, especially those that are about to be prescribed.
Will the Judiciary enter into austerity?
There are quite a few contracts and that is why I have asked them to know the number of these and analyze them, as well as the number of officials there are, the functions and thus optimize the resources. We will apply austerity.
The competitions to designate prosecutors and administrative will be reactivated in the coming weeks, what will be your participation?
There will be new parameters in the ratings because in one way or another the most important thing ends up being the act of depoliticizing justice. That there should never again be communications or filters, such as what was made public that the Legal Secretariat of the Presidency of the Republic ended up becoming a filter to disqualify certain people so that they cannot be justice operators.
Transparency in evaluation and selection must prevail.
You applied for prosecutor in 2011, what experience did you leave?
It was a very bad experience, because what every citizen expects when they are trained is access to a position. Obviously one feels totally disappointed, disappointed to see that a Participation Council did not meet the expectations of citizens because they did not apply the law.
Did you figure as the best rated?
I was in the first place, I won the contest, and the media announced on the night that I had won, but in the early hours of the morning, the one in sixth place went to the first and it was Dr. Galo Chiriboga.
Will you apply again for prosecutor?
I think the conditions of the country have changed, I do not believe much in institutions, but more in men and the moment when there is a man like Dr. Julio Cesar Trujillo at the head of the Citizen Participation Council, that fact for me is a guarantee.
Could your passing through politics affect your new functions?
In no way, the degree of professionalism allows you to separate things. At some point I participated in politics by the Pachakutik movement by invitation, but not by affiliation.
What will happen to your law firm while you exercise the functions of director?
Unfortunately I have to close the doors of my law office. I think it is necessary to do it, because I do not want any judicial officer to use a letterhead of mine in a writing to try to influence, this is a matter of ethics.
As a lawyer you were in defense in controversial cases, did you affect in favor or against?
I am not the ideal person to qualify if it was good or bad, I believe that when we have principles, these are the ones that decide our actions and I have been characterized by the defense of human rights and in that I have developed.
What are the priorities in your management?
To purge the bad elements so that the confidence of the citizens in the administration of justice is increased. Independence and purification will be the two fundamental pillars in which we consider our actions a priority.
How do you expect the citizens to remember your passage through the Judicial Council?
As a man who contributed to the modernization of justice, to the recovery of independence and public confidence in this period of transition in which the bases for the restoration of democracy were built. Let it be understood that this Council of the Judicature is the one that laid the foundations for these objectives that are a cry of the Ecuadorian people. (O)