Before You Buy a Home in Ecuador, Consider This

@cccmedia Ecuador has only recently revised the laws to allow police officers to discharge their weapons in defense against an attacker or to protect the public. An officer could go to prison for inadvertently or even justifiably killing a suspect if the courts looked unkindly on the event. In a country where wages are low, and to be fair Expats are driving costs up, it’s understandable they are cautious about losing income to support their families. The law until now was intended to prevent Ecuador from turning into a police state (witness the corruption and murderous habits of the police in Brazil and other neighboring countries still to this day). In talking to many Ecuadorians, the countries anti-corruption efforts have paid off…while corruption seems to remain a problem in government and among the poorly paid transito officers, the citizens generally trust the national police (and the military). The unintended consequences of the previous laws have been to leave the police officer feeling helpless to act of course, as in the video. Recent changes will take time to sort out and balance with discretionary protection of lawful protesters, etc. but the situation will improve.

@cccmedia Venezuela certainly springs to mind, where police are known to be widely involved in “extra-judicial” killings in poorer neighborhoods… Seems like it’s only gotten worse since I worked and travelled between Honduras, Venezuela, and Colombia.