LAWFARE IN ECUADOR

PROCEDURAL HARASSMENT, BANNING, AND POLITICAL PERSECUTION AGAINST JORGE GLAS

Abstract

The political persecution of Jorge Glas, former Vice President of Ecuador, is similar to the lawfare processes that targeted President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in Brazil and Cristina Kirchner in Argentina. Accused of corruption, Glas is being persecuted by the Ecuadorian judiciary precisely because, like the others mentioned, he is a progressive political leader who confronts a conservative elite, uncommitted to the excluded and accustomed to an authoritarian tradition, which historically manifests itself through military or personalistic leaders. The objective of this text is to analyze some of the arguments used by the Ecuadorian justice system to convict Jorge Glas, disclosing how their procedural actions are contrary to the laws of the country, and constitute procedural harassment whose objective was to remove him from public life.