“I come to the polls scared and looking everywhere,” says Yolanda as she walks quickly. “I see that there are no people around on motorcycles, with masks, hoods or helmets, because we who live here know what criminals are like.” He is currently at the Rafael Larrea School in the Recreo sector in Durán, one of the most dangerous cities in Ecuador, and was kidnapped by two criminal gangs who carry out shootings at all hours of the day. “Last night they killed a boy a few blocks from here,” said Josué, 24, a young man who works as a bricklayer in another city. He’s grateful to be gone because the gangs are recruiting people his age. “And if you say yes, you’re screwed, you’ll never be able to leave again, several of my friends and even family members are part of these groups and they don’t discriminate at all.”
Parts of the army guard the voting centers.María Fernanda Landin
Shortly after noon, more than 44 percent of the registered population nationwide had already voted. “People came en masse to vote early,” says María, one of the election observers. Violence sets the pace for people who intuitively believe that the earlier they vote, the less likely they will be to be victims of attacks or confronted by assassins. Voting takes no longer than five minutes when you enter the premises: you hand in your ID card, mark the ballot paper, put it in the ballot box and pick up your certificate. “I came to vote for this role,” Mario denies. In Ecuador, voting is mandatory in every electoral process; Failure to comply will result in a $45 fine. “The country’s economy is not able to pay this penalty, we hardly have any work to survive,” he adds. Its headquarters is the National School of Durán, one of the largest in the canton, and almost 30 armed soldiers guard the interior of the facility. The uniformed officers search bags and backpacks, force the men to take off their hats and also randomly search the body to look for weapons.
Outside, a dozen police officers stand near the front door, although the line stretches about four blocks until they reach one of the dangerous areas called Virgin of the Grotto. The women hold their bags to their chests and almost no one has a cell phone in their hand. They already know the sector and across the board no police officer cares about the safety of those waiting to enter the site. “There is never peace in Durán, not every day, but as more and more soldiers and police arrived, it seems that the shootings have been somewhat contained since yesterday,” said Alfredo Domínguez, who waited more than 30 minutes to enter the compound and voting.
Citizens go to the polls in Durán.María Fernanda Landin
Violence has almost normalized in this city taken over by organized crime, which has claimed the lives of 250 people so far in 2023, 150% more than last year, including two officers from the municipality of Durán. Mayor Luis Chonillo, elected in February 2023, was also the target of an attack on the first day of his term in office, which he survived unharmed. Since then, he has not slept in the same place for more than one night, limiting his public appearances and construction tours. Given the high risk of suffering a new attack, he went to the polls this Sunday wearing a bulletproof vest, a helmet and surrounded by a police presence.
In a similar effort, former mayor Dalton Narvaez went to the polls. The fear was so great that when people at school noticed it, they immediately moved away because they risked finding themselves in the middle of an attack. There is a reason for the fear: a week ago, his mother Mariana Mendieta, who was also mayor of Durán for eight years in a row, was kidnapped for three days. As Narvaez left the facilities, the bustling atmosphere returned, from the shop calling the sale of caramelized apples, potatoes with leather, corn with cheese, juices or laminating the electoral certificate, traditions of a normal election day in Ecuador, only on this occasion Only few stayed to eat and talk, the majority left and voted to quickly get on a bus, get on the motorbike and drive off.
An army member stands guard at the entrance to a voting center. Maria Fernanda Landin
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