Ecuadorian Congress Censures Lasso's Former Interior Minister

During a political trial held on Thursday, Ecuador's National Assembly censured former Interior Minister Patricio Carrillo and disqualified him from holding public office for two years.

RELATED:

Disapproval of Ecuador's President's Administration Reaches 85%

The lawmakers found him guilty of breaching his duties in relation to respect for human rights during the repression of the protests in June 2022 and the investigation into the murder of lawyer Maria Belen Bernal inside a Police School.

The "No Confidence" motion against Carrillo, who headed the Interior Minister between March and September 2022, was approved with 105 votes in favor and 19 abstentions.

During his tenure, Carrillo harshly repressed the protests that the Indigenous movement led for 18 consecutive days to reject President Guillermo Lasso. Back then, police brutality left seven people dead and countless abuses against citizens.

The tweet reads, "U.S. Ambassador Michael Fitzpatrck entering the Prosecutor's Office amid corruption investigations involving Lenin Moreno and Lasso. This stopped being a country a while ago and went back to being the hacienda it was in the 90s."

The Oversight Commission presented to lawmakers a report demonstrating that the Police and the Armed Forces used indiscriminate and disproportionate force against the protesters.

The police also violated the UNESCO Convention on the Protection of World Cultural and Natural Heritage when they seized the Ecuadorian Culture House to prevent social and political organizations from meeting in those facilities.

Shortly before leaving office, Carrillo also faced another scandal: lawyer Bernal was murdered by her husband, inside the Police School in the Pichincha province.

Initially, the Lasso administration's police authorities tried to hide the details of this femicide case, which made the matter a "State Crime," according to the victim's mother.