Ecuador: President Announces Appointment of New Interior, Defense Ministers After Resignations

Ecuador’s President Lenin Moreno announced Mauro Toscanini as the new interior minister and Oswaldo Jarrin as defense minister after accepting the resignation of Cesar Navas and Patricio Zambrano Friday.

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Navas and Zambrano resigned a day after the president Moreno’s 10-day deadline to capture Walter Patricio Artizala Vernaza alias “El Guacho,” head of the Oliver Sinisterra Front allegedly behind the recent attacks and kidnappings in Ecuador’s northern border province of Esmeraldas, expired. The president had charged them with capturing “El Guacho.”

Toscanini, who is replacing Navas, is a commercial engineer and the director of the Catholic University in the city of Guayaquil. He specializes in foreign trade and international business, which has leading some to question his suitability for the job.   

While Jarrin, who holds Ph.D. in Education Sciences served as defense minister between 2005 and 2006, headed the country’s national security council, and was the Chief of the Joint Command of the Armed Forces.

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According to local police reports the Oliver Sinisterra Front, who are believed to operate in the Colombian department of Nariño, are responsible for 11 attacks, including the kidnapping of the three staff members of local newspaper El Comercio and the most recent abduction of an Ecuadorean couple, Katty Velasco and Oscar Villacis.

After the Ecuadorean government confirmed the murder of the three kidnapped men, President Moreno announced the further militarization of the border, a US$100,000 reward to anyone who provides information on El Guacho's whereabouts, and a 10-day deadline for state security forces to find and capture "Le Guacho".

On April 16, “Le Guacho” sent a letter to the International Red Cross Committee saying the Oliver Sinisterra Front was suspending “any humanitarian activity related to giving back the bodies” of the three men previously held hostage, citing lack of guarantees from Ecuador's Government.

The country’s government has also highlighted the need for international and bilateral cooperation to fight against international organized crime in the last few days. On Wednesday Navas signed a security cooperation agreement with United States ambassador Todd Chapman.

Two weeks after the last kidnapping was announced by Cesar Navas there is no information on the couple’s whereabouts.   

On Friday, Moreno declared the state of emergency in the northern towns of Mataje, El Pan, and La Cadena, several security operations have been carried out in these towns.