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Ecuador Standards of Police Conduct
Although Ecuadorian police authorities had no tradition of
massive or systematic human rights violations, public attention
focused on police conduct during the latter part of the 1980s.
Evidence was presented of torture and abuse of prisoners in the
hands of the police and, in some cases, the military. A number of
official and private organizations--including the Tribunal of
Constitutional Guarantees (Tribunal de Garantías Constitucionales--
TGC), the Special Commission on Human Rights of the Ecuadorian
National Congress, and the Ecumenical Commission of Human Rights
(Comisión Ecuménica de Derechos Humanos--CEDHU)--recorded and
investigated human rights complaints.
According to CEDHU, the police frequently subjected detainees
suspected of political infractions to violence in efforts to
extract confessions and information. Common-crime suspects also
suffered torture or maltreatment, especially in rural areas. CEDHU
reported sixty-nine cases of torture and eighty-nine cases of
brutality in 1987 and a further twenty cases of torture during the
first half of 1988. CEDHU believed that police abuse was more
widespread than these statistics indicated since many cases went
unreported. In 1985 and 1986, five persons arrested by the police
or the military disappeared and were believed to have died in
custody. No disappearances had been recorded since 1986. According
to CEDHU, forty persons in 1986 and thirty-four in 1987 died while
in police custody. Many of these, including several of the ten AVC
leaders killed by the police, were believed to have been victims of
extrajudicial executions.
The United States Department of State's Country Reports on
Human Rights Practices for 1987 noted that, although
mistreatment of detainees was not officially sanctioned, the
government of Febres Cordero made no clear statement condemning the
use of excessive force, nor were penal actions taken against police
or military personnel believed to have taken part in deaths,
disappearances, or torture. Upon taking office in August 1988, the
Borja administration stated its unequivocal opposition to official
use of abusive measures. The Department of State reported that,
although some police abuse--including torture--occurred after
Borja's inauguration, human rights groups hoped that over time the
new president's promises of respect for human rights would have an
impact on police behavior.
The TGC, an autonomous body, is empowered under the 1979
Constitution to investigate breaches of constitutional or human
rights. Although the TGC had little real power to enforce its
rulings, it focused public attention on human rights issues by
hearing complaints of human rights activists and calling upon
government officials to respond to questions
(see The Judiciary
, ch. 4).
Charges against members of the police were reviewed by special
police courts under a three-tiered system consisting of tribunals,
district courts, and the National Court of Police Justice. Although
the courts were ostensibly independent, some observers called into
question their impartiality, especially inasmuch as most police
judges were active or retired police officers. According to a
survey by two human rights groups, Americas Watch and the Andean
Commission of Jurists, the number of cases involving wrongful
homicide and torture was inexplicably small in relation to the
number of complaints against the police in the 1984-86 period.
Apparently none of the trials had resulted in convictions; all were
either still pending or had been dismissed.
Data as of 1989
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