Ecuadorians vote in favour of referendum to extradite mafia bosses

A solid majority of Ecuadorian voters have approved a referendum paving the way for the extradition of organised crime bosses, National Electoral Council president Diana Atamaint said.

Some 65 percent of valid votes were marked "yes" on the matter of extradition, and 35 percent marked "no," according to a quick count of vote results on Monday, electoral authorities said in a news conference.

President Daniel Noboa hailed the result.

"We have defended the country, now we will have more tools to fight crime and restore peace to Ecuadoran families," Noboa said earlier.

Nearly 13.6 million of the country's 17.7 million inhabitants were eligible to cast a "Yes" or "No" on 11 referendum questions on the ballot.

Once-peaceful Ecuador has been grappling with a shocking rise in violence, flaring up due to a rise in narcotics trafficking, that has seen two mayors killed this week.

New bloodshed stained the day as assailants shot dead a prison warden in coastal Ecuador.

Damian Parrales, chief of the El Rodero prison in coastal Manabi state, "was the victim of an attack that unfortunately cost him his life," the national prison authority said in a statement.

Ecuadorian prisons have become nerve centres for organised crime groups and a bloody battleground that has claimed the lives of more than 460 inmates in three years.

Parrales, who had assumed his prison post just five days ago, was gunned down as he ate lunch with his family in the town of Jipijapa, local media reported.

Harsher penalties

Since January last year, at least a dozen politicians have been slain in Ecuador, including presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio, who was gunned down last August after a campaign event.

Noboa declared in January a state of "internal armed conflict," with about 20 criminal groups blamed for a spasm of violence sparked by the jailbreak of a major drug lord, still on the run.

In Sunday's vote, Noboa was seeking popular backing for his plans to clamp down even harder on those responsible for such acts.

Citizens were asked to approve an expansion of military and police powers, significantly boosting gun control and imposing harsher penalties for "terrorism" and drug trafficking.

Noboa is also proposing to change the constitution so that Ecuadorians wanted abroad for organised crime-related offences can be extradited.

Last year, the country's murder rate rose to a record 43 per 100,000 inhabitants — up from a mere six in 2018, according to official data.

In a publication on Friday, polling firm Gallup said no other region in the world, excluding active war zones, felt less secure in 2023 to residents than Ecuador's Guayas province.