Hate crime and racial discrimination in Ecuador: The case of Michael Arce in ESMIL

Abstract

For the first time in Ecuador a hate crime was tried in court and led to a conviction. This was the case of Michael Arce, a young Afro-Ecuadorian former cadet who won the trial against Captain Fernando Encalada of the Eloy Alfaro Military School (ESMIL). ESMIL belongs to the Ecuadorian Armed Forces, a state institution considered to be of great prestige and a guarantor of citizens’ rights and democracy, but not for all. Arce suffered in ESMIL 2 months of humiliation and torture. Through a socio-legal analysis this article demonstrates the normalization of racial stereotypes and prejudices, and the sometimes subtle existence of structural and institutional racism in the education and judicial systems. This case represents a pioneering judicial action in Ecuador that legally established and defined new pretrial and trial proceedings in regard to litigation concerning violation of human rights, racial discrimination and hate crimes.