The Ecuador Interior Minister, John Reimberg, has announced this Friday that, over the course of the next few weeks, the handover to the United States of Jacobo Bucaram Pulley, the son of the former ruler Abdalá Bucaram, will be finalized, for whom drug trafficking accusations are being made.
At present, Bucaram Pulley remains in custody in Ecuador together with those who would be his partners, William José Briones López and Geovanny Fernández Menéndez. All of them are detained at the request of U.S. authorities, while the formal arrival of the extradition order is awaited.
Reimberg has detailed that, once the official documentation is received from Washington, a judicial hearing will be convened with the arrested men, in which they will be notified of the content of the request. "It is a process that can last a few more weeks," he indicated during an interview given to TC Televisión.
In addition to these three individuals involved, the United States has requested the extradition of two other people allegedly linked to the same network: Jaime Estrada Bonilla and his son, Jaime Estrada Medranda, both businessmen in the fishing sector and with prior experience in Ecuadorian politics. At present, both are being held in Panama.
Regarding this case, Ecuador’s president, Daniel Noboa, has underscored that the investigation highlights the relationship between organized crime and the "old politics," and he has emphasized that his administration will act without exceptions. "We can’t turn a blind eye (...) I don’t end up as an accomplice (...) If I start acting as in the past, I kill the future of Ecuador," he said in an interview with FM Mundo.