QUITO, April 29 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Ecuador’s President Guillermo Lasso on Thursday demanded the resignation of his cabinet almost a year into a term that has been marked by a crisis of bloody prison violence.
The right-wing president intended to renew his team and make new appointments specifically in the portfolios of energy and mines, agriculture, and human rights, the communications secretariat said.
On Tuesday, he changed his defense chief.
“The national government, in its first year of office, is carrying out an evaluation of its entire cabinet and making the changes it considers relevant,” the secretariat announced on Twitter.
As a result, Lasso has “requested the resignation of ministers,” it added, in an effort to “guarantee the welfare of each citizen.”
Lasso’s government has declared a war on drug trafficking blamed for an explosion of violence in the streets and in prisons.
Some 350 prisoners have been killed since February last year in Latin America’s worst jail massacres.
Meanwhile, two Ecuadoran ministers announced on Thursday that they had decided to quit from their positions in the government led by President Guillermo Lasso.
The two outgoing ministers are Juan Carlos Bermeo, minister of energy and non-renewable natural resources, and Bernarda Ordonez, minister-ranking head of the Human Rights Secretariat.
The announcement of resignations, which took place just two days after Defence Minister Luis Hernandez submitted his resignation, came one month before the Lasso-led government completes its first year in office.
The Ecuadoran presidency confirmed the resignations by Bermeo and Ordonez.
Bermeo, who had served in the cabinet for 10 months, said that it was time for him to return to his private professional activities.
In the letter of resignation, Bermeo said that the ministry in his charge had managed to cement the pillars of management in the energy, hydrocarbon and mining sectors.
According to official sources, Bermeo could be replaced by Xavier Vera, who currently serves as vice minister of mines.
Meanwhile, Ordonez gave up the presidency of the Board of Directors of the Technical Agency for Social Rehabilitation, a governmental organ responsible for making public policies in the area.
Ordonez’s resignation came at a time when the South American country’s prison system is going through a serious crisis characterized by continuous prison riots since 2021, in which dozens of prisoners had been killed in clashes between rival gangs.
On April 26, Luis Lara was immediately appointed to replace Hernandez as defense minister. — NNN-AGENCIES
