Ecuador will ask Venezuelan migrants to present their criminal records upon entering, the country's vice president said on Monday, following the murder of a pregnant Ecuadorean woman by a Venezuelan man that triggered protests and acts of violence.
The Saturday killing in the northern city of Ibarra was the first reported murder committed by a Venezuelan immigrant in Ecuador since hundreds of thousands began arriving, fleeing an economic crisis. Ecuador estimates that 1.3 million Venezuelans entered last year, though many continue on to other countries.
"Without generalizing, but with a firm hand, today we must differentiate between Venezuelans who are fleeing Maduro's government and others who take advantage of the situation to commit crimes," Vice President Otto Sonnenholzner said, referring to Venezuela's socialist President Nicolas Maduro.