Legislative decisions that are beyond controversial

ECUADOR - In Brief 14 Mar 2022 by Magdalena Barreiro

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Last Thursday, the Assembly voted in favor of granting amnesty to all of those prosecuted for violent acts of public property destruction carried out during the riots of October 2019. Albeit some of the cases could fall within the category of political persecution, there is no doubt according to evidence gathered by the Attorney General´s office, that many were just common criminal felonies, including kidnapping of police members or public goods destruction. However, according to Diana Salazar, General Attorney, her office did not count on the collaboration from the different public offices --including the kidnapped members of the police. In this instance those processes could not end up with a final sentence in court, allowing members from UNES and Pachakutik to promote the above-mentioned amnesty.On top of this controversial vote, on Sunday night, the Assembly surprisingly voted on the increment to salaries of teachers approved by the past Assembly one day before the second- round presidential election last April. That decision was suspended by the Constitutional Court, which did not rule against it on the basis of unconstitutionality, as many prominent lawyers supported, but rather ruled the Assembly should find the necessary financing for the increment before approving it. The previous legislative decision implied an increase that summed close to $3b. This new approval voted by 113 legislators, reduces it to around $800 million and proposes as financing sources oil revenues in excess of the $59/b, which is the basis for the 2022 budget, and also mentions the increased tax revenues that will come from the recently approved tax reform.The legislative decision is base...