Indigenous fury against Daniel Noboa’s plans for a mega-prison in the Ecuadorian Amazon

President Daniel Noboa’s announcement of a plan to build a mega-prison in Archidona, a small town located in the Ecuadorian Amazon, has triggered a wave of protests that has already lasted 12 days. The mobilization has caused the closure of a main road that connects the province with other regions of the country, and has generated shortages of products in various localities. However, it was on Thursday night when the demonstrations took a more radical turn. Hundreds of protesters, mostly Amazonian Kichwa indigenous people, gathered outside the Governor’s building, carrying traditional spears. Defying security measures, they removed the metal fences that the police had installed to protect the building. In the moments that followed, there was a direct confrontation with law enforcement officers, who tried to disperse the protesters using tear gas. Despite attempts to contain them, the protesters managed to take control of the facilities.

The doors of the building remain closed, while outside a group of protesters have set up plastic tents to protect themselves from the intense heat and rain. On the makeshift structures hang signs with the message “No to Archidona prison.” The city, known as “beautiful Archidona,” has no more than 8,000 residents and is bathed by the imposing Napo River, which flows into the Amazon. More than half of its population is Kichwa, and the majority is dedicated to agriculture and ecological tourism, taking advantage of the natural resources that surround both the city and the province. However, many fear that the construction of the mega-prison proposed by Noboa would endanger the livelihood of thousands of families, by altering the economic and social balance that revolves around these activities.

“Before the pandemic, Archidona was known for having the lowest crime rates, but illegal mining has altered that reality, increasing violence. And with the construction of the prison, security would only get worse,” says Daniel Jaque, leader of the Napo Sumaco Geopark. This initiative, born from civil society and supported by local authorities, has led UNESCO to consider including the region on its list, which could make it the first Amazonian Geopark in the world. “Throughout this region there are caves and caverns that have been used by animals, and from a cultural perspective they have been used for Yacha rituals; in other words, there is an ancestral cultural heritage that would also be affected by the construction of this maximum security prison,” adds Jaque.

The institution in charge of the country’s prison system, the SNAI, responded to queries from EL PAÍS that information about the mega-prison project is confidential. Secrecy, in fact, has become a common government practice when it comes to controversial issues. The Bukele-style mega-prison will cost $52 million and will be built on the existing one in the city of Archidona. To carry out this project, the executive has tapped the Spanish company Puentes y Calzadas Infraestructuras S.L., a subsidiary of the state-owned China Road and Bridge Corporation, the same company that is building the Encuentro prison in another Indigenous community in the province of Santa Elena, on the coast. This project has also triggered a wave of protests among the inhabitants of the area; however, the government has already begun removing earth and laying the first foundations.

Archidona has a penitentiary that was originally built to house minor offenders, at a time when the region had little connection to the capital. Over time, the prison was expanded to accommodate a maximum of 300 inmates. These days, however, the center is overcrowded, with about 521 prisoners. The new maximum security prison would go up in a space bordering the town center, just a few feet from four schools, medical clinics and storefronts.

In an interview on public radio, Gary Rivadeneyra, who was appointed governor of the province just six days ago, defended the project, saying that the new facilities will have the capacity to hold 800 prisoners, and not 1,000 as the protesters fear. “It is not true that the worst prisoners will be sent here either; the existing inmates will remain. It is not a ‘mega-prison’ in the sense it is being portrayed; it is designed for the crimes that are committed within our region,” said Rivadeneyra. However, his statements seem to contradict the official line by the government, which has promoted the construction of new prisons as a way to house the most dangerous leaders of Ecuador’s criminal gangs. Despite these discrepancies, the governor insisted that the protest has a “political tone” and is part of an attempt to discredit the government.

Since coming to power, Daniel Noboa has incorporated prison security as one of the fundamental pillars of his security policy. The president’s proposals have undergone significant variations over time. Initially, Noboa proposed the idea of building prison barges, anchored in the Pacific, far from the coast and from the communities where criminals usually operate. Later, the proposal took a turn towards the creation of mega-prisons, inspired by the model of the Confinement Center for terrorists in El Salvador, a strategy promoted by that country’s president, Nayib Bukele. Ecuador’s young president has chosen to replicate this last model, marking a definitive turn in his approach to prison security.

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