2024-07-05 05:42:21
The President of the Republic presided over the ceremony to start construction of the new prison, but the work is not expected to begin until next week. Families of affected community members are demanding ownership of ancestral lands.
Red painted stakes with pieces of warning tape as small markers. And open paths in a hilly area, between ceiba trees in the tropical dry forest. These are the only signs of the new “Encuentro prison” in the province of Santa Elena.
There were no military personnel or contractors in the area on the morning of Friday, June 21, 2024, hours after the President of the Republic, Daniel Noboa, presided over the “start of construction” ceremony for the new prison.
The prison will be called “del encuentro” (the meeting prison) – as the slogan of the government of former President Guillermo Lasso – because, according to the president, corrupt people and drug traffickers will be found there. The maximum security prison will have Artificial Intelligence systems, according to Noboa.
Despite the official announcement, construction work will begin next week. Meanwhile, families of affected community members are claiming ownership of the land and are considering filing lawsuits against the construction of the prison.
In fact, during the ceremony, cries of “we don’t want jail” could be heard from a nearby hill. The event took place in a field in the Juntas del Pacífico commune, in the Simón Bolívar parish, in Santa Elena.
And the construction site is located kilometers south of the town. Military personnel have opened up paths about seven kilometers away on an unpaved road between Juntas and the Don Lucas compound. But, according to the governor of Santa Elena, Fabricio Tamayo, the site of the new prison will still be located in the woods, 20 kilometers away.
Tamayo referred to the claims regarding ancestral ownership of the lands. He said that these are complaints from the community members of Bajada de Chanduy, a commune neighbouring Juntas. “They say that because of their ancestry, these lands also belong to them. But there are no such titles, legally they have absolutely nothing,” said the governor.
From “virgin forest”
The 37.8 hectares where the prison will be built currently belong to the Government. They were transferred by the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock to the National Service for the Attention of Prisoners (SNAI), according to Tamayo. The construction area will be 12.2 hectares and, with the withdrawal areas, it will add up to a total space of 16.8 hectares. Construction work will begin on June 24, he said.
The site requires road improvements that will accompany the construction. “This was all virgin forest and now, with the construction of the prison, all the access roads will be developed,” explained Tamayo. “The road to the site is still paved,” he added.
A previous meeting between community members and representatives of the Government and the SNAI, on Thursday, June 21, lasted more than four hours, due to complaints and lack of consensus, according to the community members.
“At the meeting there were requests such as the lack of a medical centre and the need to expand the coverage of schools and colleges. We agree with these requests and will work on them,” said the governor.
Juntas del Pacífico has a population of about 2,500 people and its inhabitants are mainly engaged in agriculture. According to the government, 80% of the labor force for the construction of the prison will be from the area.
The new facility will have five pavilions, four courtyards and three security fences. The investment will be USD 50 million. The prison will have capacity for 736 inmates. As for construction time, it is estimated that the work will be completed in approximately 10 months, equivalent to 300 days.
Complaints from the community members persist
Among the community members who claim the ancestral ownership of the lands, there is a persistent lack of clarity regarding the polygon in which the infrastructure will be built, on 300-hectare plots that, according to the Government, were reverted to the State through a mortgage.
Community members from the Cabrera Parrales and Cabrera Villón families claim that the military has opened trails on their land, part of the La Envidia property, owned by 12 tenants for nearly a century. Donald Cabrera, representative of the Bajada de Chanduy community members, expressed his firm rejection of the construction of the prison, arguing that the project is the result of an illegal award and will negatively affect his community, bringing insecurity to the area.
Cabrera accused the government of acting in an “arrogant and arbitrary” manner by awarding the land to the SNAI without respecting legal regulations, amid “indignation” among those who consider the area to be part of their ancestral heritage.
In addition to the legal dispute over land ownership, Cabrera warned of the environmental impact that construction would have on a 435-hectare megadiverse forest located within a provincial conservation area.
Cabrera announced that they will use all legal tools to defend their rights and will call meetings with leaders and lawyers to decide what actions to take. The claims have the support of the Federation of Communal Farmers of Santa Elena and the Permanent Committee for the Defense of Human Rights.
The Juntas also fear that communal lands will be affected. Nelson Laínez, a 66-year-old communal member, complained that, according to the information available, six hectares of land that his family has worked for almost a century and where they have crops will be affected. “We had no choice but to accept, because they told us that otherwise they would take all 300 hectares by force, for which the Government has documents,” the family complained.
By: PRIMICIAS