'Universal citizenship' rights weakening in Ecuador.
| Autor | Saavedra, Luis Angel |
Ecuador's Constitution establishes universal citizenship as a right for everyone in Ecuador, and therefore recognizes the right of free movement within the country. Article 40 reads, "No human being will be identified or considered illegal because of his migratory situation."
Nevertheless, it seems that this principle does not apply to Cubans or Haitians, judging by the massive deportations of Cuban citizens in July and the detaining and stranding of 150 Haitians on the border between Ecuador and Colombia, which left them unable to enter either country.
Cubans transiting through Ecuador
Just as the rights of nature established by the 2008 Constitutional Assembly were dismantled when oil exploitation in the Yasuni National Park and open-pit mining in the southern Amazonia region were allowed (NotiSur, Feb. 14, 2014), another constitutional principle was dismantled in recent weeks--that of universal citizenship, under which no one migrating from one country to another should be considered illegal.
When this principle became law in Ecuador, visa requirements to enter the country were eliminated. This was quickly revised because of the flow of US-bound persons who began to use Ecuador as a transit country. The number of people entering Ecuador increased greatly, but the number of registered departures did not. National police detected large groups that entered Ecuador legally and left surreptitiously, guided by bands of coyotes. According to the immigration police, the difference between Cubans legally entering and leaving the country went up from 15,658 in 2014 to 29,919 in 2015. As of Dec. 1, 2015, Ecuador began requiring visas for Cubans who wanted to enter the country as tourists, limiting the visits to 90 days. Those soliciting the visas had to present a letter of invitation from an economically solvent Ecuadoran resident (NotiCen, March 10, 2011, May 24, 2012, and Dec, 17, 2015).
These restrictions led to the opening of new illegal entry routes, especially through the Amazonia region. Nuevo Rocafuerte, a small town in Aguarico, in the province of Sucumbios, became a new port of entry. People from Cuba, Haiti, Senegal, and the Congo, among other countries, entered through this port in small boats under cover of night, and once inside the country, traveled to Quito in small pickup trucks.
The pressure from these new waves of migrants also began to register in Central America. Nicaragua closed its border with Costa Rica to stop the passage...
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