Ecuador: made-to-order justice.
| Autor | Saavedra, Luis Angel |
| Cargo | Essay |
Control of the Ecuadoran justice system has long been an objective of whatever government is in power, and it uses various tactics from imposing judges by force to employing processes that appear democratic but are unable to maintain their independence. President Rafael Correa's administration is a case in point.
A history of interference
The most serious incidents of interference with the Ecuadoran judiciary in the country's recent democratic history undoubtedly occurred during the administrations of rightist President Leon Febres Cordero (1984-1988), populist President Lucio Gutierrez (2003-2005), and President Correa.
The most outrageous instance took place during Febres Cordero's administration. The 1978 Constitution gave Congress the power to elect judges to the Corte Suprema de Justicia (CSJ), which it did in early October 1984. Febres Cordero ordered the Policia Nacional to prevent the judges chosen by Congress from entering the Palacio de Justicia and surrounded the building with military tanks. The judges were forced to resign, and Congress chose a new CSJ with judges suggested by the office of the president.
Since then, each elected government has made control of the CSJ a priority, including the administrations of Presidents Rodrigo Borja (1988-1992) and Sixto Duran Ballen (1992-1996). Control of the court was made easier because judges were appointed for four-year terms coinciding with presidential terms. This continued until the 1998 Asamblea Constituyente, controlled by the rightist Partido Social Cristiano (PSC) and Democracia Popular (DP), established lifetime terms for CSJ judges, who were appointed under an agreement between the two parties.
When President Gutierrez took office in 2003, he also made it a priority to control the CSJ, which at the time was trying cases related to the 1999 financial crisis. Congress fired the CSJ judges, despite their lifetime appointments, and created a new court, whose first act was to throw out the corruption charges against former President Abdala Bucaram (1996-1997), ousted by Congress in 1997 (NotiSur, Feb. 7, 1997). That action was one reason Gutierrez was overthrown in April 2005 (NotiSur, Jan. 7, 2005, and April 22, 2005).
President Correa's administration and the 2008 Asamblea Constituyente again brought to the political stage the need for judicial reform. This time, however, Correa dismissed not only the CSJ but also all judges in the system and set up a Consejo de la Judicatura...
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