José Serrano (Ecuadorian politician)

In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Serrano and the second or maternal family name is Salgado.
José Serrano
3rd President of the National Assembly
In office
14 May 2017 – 9 March 2018
Preceded byGabriela Rivadeneira
Succeeded byElizabeth Cabezas
Minister of the Interior
In office
13 May 2011 – 15 November 2016
PresidentRafael Correa
Preceded byAlfredo Vera Arrata
Succeeded byDiego Fuentes
Minister of Justice, Human Rights and Religious Affairs
In office
5 April 2010 – 13 May 2011
PresidentRafael Correa
Preceded byNestór Arbito
Succeeded byJohana Pesántez
Personal details
Born (1970-11-19) 19 November 1970
Cuenca, Ecuador
Alma materUniversidad San Francisco de Quito
Universidad del Azuay

José Serrano Salgado (born 19 November 1970)[1] is an Ecuadorian politician. He was President of the National Assembly between 14 May 2017 and 9 March 2018. He was Minister of the Interior from 13 May 2012 to 15 November 2016. He previously held other cabinet posts.

Personal life

José Serrano was born 19 November 1970 in Cuenca, Ecuador.[1] He is a politician with a long career in the public sector,[2] is a prominent political figure and human rights advocate. Raised in a family of lawyers,[3] he is the seventh generation in his family to follow the legal profession, instilling in him a deep sense of justice, security, and human rights.[3]

He served as Interior Minister from May 2012 until November 2016. a period during which Ecuador’s homicide rate was reported to have declined sharply.[4] His leadership in Ecuador's security sector earned him recognition, including the prestigious Drug Enforcement Administration recognition in 2016, for his vital contributions to the fight against international drug trafficking.[5]

He was elected to head the list of candidates for the National Congress, being elected as the most voted nationwide with 39% by Alianza-Pais party followed by a right-wing political party CREO with the 15%.[6][7] José Serrano served as President of the National Congress of Ecuador from May 2017 until March 2018. His removal from office did not follow any lawful procedure, but was instead the product of a political maneuver executed without constitutional authority, intended to obstruct his efforts to uncover corruption and crimes committed by political parties. Later, Serrano brought to light the involvement of the Albanian mafia and its connections to former President Guillermo Lasso.[7] He also served as Alternate President of the Latin American Parliament (Parlatino) during his legislative career.[8]

During his tenure as Minister of the Interior (2012–2016) the homicide rate in Ecuador fell significantly, from 17.57 cases in 2010 to 6.41 cases in 2015 and closed 2016 with 5 cases per 100,000 inhabitants.[1]

In 2024, Serrano sought to expand his impact on Ecuador’s future by running for president,[9] presenting a vision for a stronger, safer, and more just country. However, his candidacy was tragically cut short due to threats to his life,[9] forcing him to step back from the race. Despite this, Serrano remains a resilient figure in Ecuadorian politics.

On his X account, which has over 800,000 followers, Serrano frequently denounces[10] organized crime and its links to corruption, and has become a consistent voice on security and governance issues in Ecuador.[11]

Education

Serrano has a master's degree in Social Intervention in Knowledge Societies from the University of La Rioja,[12] and he has a post-graduate degree in Project Management from the Universidad San Francisco de Quito. José Serrano has doctorate in Jurisprudence and lawyership in Justice Tribunals of the Republic of Ecuador by the University of Azuay.[1]

Political career

Serrano got his first ministerial post under President Alfredo Palacio when he was made Minister of Labour and Employment in June 2005. He kept this position until August 2006. In this period he managed to get a reform of the labour laws through parliament. He managed to do so after triparty negotiations between employees, employers and the parliament. In December 2006 he served a stint as Minister of Finance. Under the new President Correa, Serrano was made Subsecretary of Mines in the Ministry of Mines and Petroleum. He served in this capacity between September 2007 and August 2009. He then served between November 2009 and April 2010 as Secretary of Transparent Management. During his tenure he implemented the Plan Andino, a counter-corruption initiative. He succeeded in working together with Colombia to get this plan through the Andean Community of Nations.[13]

Following this, he was made Minister of Justice, Human Rights and Religious Affairs, serving between April 2010 and May 2011. On 13 May 2011, Serrano was designated Minister of the Interior by President Correa.[14] During his tenure there has been a crackdown on organised crime, which has shaken the nation's illegal drugs sector.[5] He is also known for his reformation to the police institution reached the greatest internal purification of all time, devolving the militarized command to a social one based on human rights, providing a dignified life for all the members of the institution.[15] In June 2016, the United States Department of Justice, through the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), honored Ecuador’s Minister of the Interior José Serrano Salgado in Washington for his leadership in counter-narcotics efforts.[5] Between 2010 and 2016, Ecuador seized 332 metric tons of narcotics an increase of 191% in annual averages compared to the previous decade, dismantled 305 drug-trafficking organizations, and carried out 41,551 anti-narcotics operations (239% more than between 2000 and 2010).[16] Under Serrano’s leadership, security forces also captured major gang leaders, including José Adolfo “Fito” Macías (later extradited to the United States), Jorge Luis “Rasquiña” Zambrano of Los Choneros, and leaders of Los Lobos.[17] During this period, Ecuador’s homicide rate fell from 20 to 5.5 per 100,000 inhabitants.[4]

In November 2013 Serrano temporary took control as Minister of Justice, Human Rights and Religious Affairs after Minister Lenin Lara resigned.[18]

On 15 November 2016 Serrano resigned as Minister of the Interior, to become the lead candidate of the PAIS Alliance in the 2017 Ecuadorian general election. He was succeeded by Diego Fuentes.[19] In February 2014 he won the elections as the most voted National Assembly member. On 14 May 2017 he was elected President of the National Assembly.[20] His removal from office did not follow any lawful procedure, but was instead the product of a political maneuver executed without constitutional authority, intended to obstruct his efforts to uncover corruption and crimes committed by political parties. Later, Serrano brought to light the involvement of the Albanian mafia and its connections to former President Guillermo Lasso.[7]

As an activist and protector of human rights he was invited by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights to assume a junior lawyer position.[1]

In July 2024, Serrano registered as a pre-candidate for the Democratic Center nomination for President of Ecuador in the upcoming 2025 general election.[21] A month later, he withdrew his candidacy, stating that he had received threats from criminal groups he confronted during his tenure as Minister of the Interior, including warnings of plans to attack him with high-caliber weapons and grenades. Serrano also accused the National Electoral Council (CNE) of denying his request to change the location of his candidacy under orders from the president, and criticized the government for complicity in Ecuador’s security crisis and for allowing organized crime to infiltrate state institutions.[9]

Serrano applied for asylum in the United States in 2021, citing death threats from organized crime groups he had fought against during his tenure as Ecuador's Interior Minister.[22] On 7 August 2025, he was detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) outside his home in Miami and held at the Krome Detention Center.[22] Although some press accounts described the detention as related to an alleged visa overstay, U.S. law provides that no unlawful presence accrues while a bona fide asylum application is pending (8 U.S.C. §1182(a)(9)(B)(iii)(II)). According to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, “Generally, time while a bona fide asylum application is pending is not counted as unlawful presence.”[23]

In September 2025, Ecuador's Attorney General's Office initiated a vinculación al proceso (a procedural act that opens a formal investigation) against Serrano, former legislator Ronny Aleaga, and businessman Xavier Jordán in relation to the 2023 assassination of presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio.[24] The hearing in Ecuador was convened just one hour after Serrano's scheduled immigration hearing in Miami had been suspended.[25]

On 3 September 2025, Judge María Daniela Ayala denied the Prosecutor's request to place Serrano in preventive detention, citing lack of legal grounds, and instead imposed alternative measures, including periodic reporting to Ecuador's consulate.[26] On 10 September, Ayala rejected the Prosecutor's appeal as inadmissible because it had been filed after the deadline.[26]

On 11 September, the Council of the Judiciary suspended Judge Ayala for three months without pay, citing “disrespect” toward the Prosecutor's Office. Councilor Solanda Goyes dissented from the decision, and shortly afterward a criminal investigation for embellzment was opened against her.[27] These measures drew criticism from observers, and international organizations including the United Nations, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, and Human Rights Watch expressed concern about political pressures on Ecuador's judiciary.[28]

Decorations

The US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) today honored Ecuador's Interior Minister, José Serrano Salgado, in recognition of the results of the counternarcotics fight in the South American country.[29] By mid-2016, the National Police had carried out more than 4,800 operations, seizing over 47 metric tons of drugs and dismantling 29 criminal organizations.[5]

The Municipality of the Metropolitan District of Quito has awarded the merit award "María Verónica Cordovez" to the Minister of the Interior, José Serrano Salgado, "for his exceptional services in internal security" for the benefit of the inhabitants of the capital of the Republic.[30]

On 27 April 2015, the Embassy of Chile in Ecuador awarded Interior Minister José Serrano the Orden Bernardo O’Higgins for his support of police cooperation between Ecuador and Chile since 2012.[31] The Chilean ambassador, Gabriel Ascencio Mansilla, praised Serrano’s role in combating drug trafficking and violence against women, noting that during his tenure Ecuador had achieved record drug seizures and a decline in homicide rates. The ceremony was attended by senior officers of the National Police and government authorities.[31]

He received the National Order of Merit in the degree of Grand Cross by the Government of Ecuador for his work in reforming the labour laws of Ecuador.[1]

Serrano was also awarded the Medalla Estrella by the National Police of Colombia in November 2016, during the celebrations of the institution’s 125th anniversary.[32] The distinction was presented in Bogotá as part of a ceremony recognizing international cooperation in security and the fight against organized crime.[32] The Colombian authorities highlighted Serrano’s coordination with regional police forces in anti-narcotics operations and intelligence-sharing initiatives, describing his role as an example of cross-border collaboration against transnational crime.[32]

On 5 October 2016, the Local Police of Castellón, Spain, presented him with the Medalla de Oro for his contributions to public security and his role in strengthening ties between Spanish and Ecuadorian police institutions.[33] The award recognized his support in developing training exchanges, technical cooperation, and community policing strategies between Castellón and Ecuador. Spaniard authorities emphasized Serrano’s efforts in promoting international partnerships aimed at improving citizen security and crime prevention.[33]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e (in Spanish) "Curriculum Vitae" Archived 2016-03-27 at the Wayback Machine, Ministry of the Interior, Ecuador
  2. ^ "El nuevo titular de la Asamblea se forjó en política desde las aulas". 16 May 2017.
  3. ^ a b Telégrafo, El (2017-05-16). "El nuevo titular de la Asamblea se forjó en política desde las aulas". El Telégrafo (in European Spanish). Retrieved 2025-09-21.
  4. ^ a b Mejía, Pablo Bachelet, Mauricio García (2017-03-27). "How Ecuador is Lowering its Murder Rate". InSight Crime. Retrieved 2025-09-21.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  5. ^ a b c d LaSusa, Mike (2017-03-27). "DEA Praises Ecuador for Increasing Drug Seizures". InSight Crime. Retrieved 2025-09-21.
  6. ^ "Serrano, Celi y Reyes, los asambleístas nacionales más votados, según CNE". 23 February 2017.
  7. ^ a b c "Destitución de José Serrano sería ilegal". Mar 12, 2018.
  8. ^ Ramos, Lesly. "Boletin de Comisiones #1". Parlamento Latinoamericano y Caribeño (in European Spanish). Retrieved 2025-09-21.
  9. ^ a b c Silva, Orlando (2024-08-27). "José Serrano desiste de su candidatura a la Presidencia en 2025". El Comercio (in Spanish). Retrieved 2025-09-21.
  10. ^ "Mafia albanesa archivos". Radio Pichincha (in Spanish). Retrieved 2025-09-21.
  11. ^ Redacción (2024-07-01). "Serrano denuncia negligencia del Gobierno de Lasso ante amenazas de la mafia albanesa". Radio Pichincha (in Spanish). Retrieved 2025-09-21.
  12. ^ "Home". unirioja.es.
  13. ^ (in Spanish) Plan Andino on Ministerio del Interior de Ecuador
  14. ^ Cabinet of Ecuador on Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service Political Database of the Americas, 23 November 2011
  15. ^ "BID | La estrategia de Ecuador para combatir el crimen". www.iadb.org (in Spanish). Retrieved 2025-09-21.
  16. ^ P, Dimitri Barreto; Jara, Mónica (2016-06-06). "La DEA condecora al ministro José Serrano por los resultados antidrogas". El Comercio (in Spanish). Retrieved 2025-09-21.
  17. ^ "Serrano criticó la cárcel La Roca, de donde se fugaron los 18 recapturados". www.ecuavisa.com (in Spanish). 2013-11-18. Retrieved 2025-09-21.
  18. ^ "José Serrano se hace cargo del ministerio de Justicia" (in Spanish). El Mercurio. 22 November 2013. Retrieved 24 December 2016.
  19. ^ "José Serrano deja el Ministerio del Interior para participar en las elecciones del 2017" (in Spanish). El Comercio. 15 November 2016. Retrieved 24 December 2016.
  20. ^ "La nueva Asamblea Nacional designó a sus principales autoridades" (in Spanish). El Telégrafo. 14 May 2017. Archived from the original on 26 January 2018. Retrieved 15 May 2017.
  21. ^ "José Serrano y Jimmy Jairala: el posible binomio de Centro Democrático para 2025" (in Spanish). Expreso. 31 July 2024. Retrieved 1 August 2024.
  22. ^ a b Egui Brito, Veronica; Ortiz Blanes, Syra (August 22, 2025). "ICE detains Ecuadorian official who combated drug trafficking back home".
  23. ^ "8 U.S. Code § 1182 - Inadmissible aliens". LII / Legal Information Institute. Retrieved 2025-09-21.
  24. ^ Under Ecuadorian criminal procedure, a vinculación al proceso is not equivalent to a criminal indictment. It is an investigative step regulated by Articles 590–596 of the Código Orgánico Integral Penal (COIP), which opens a 90-day inquiry and activates the defendant’s right to defense, without constituting a formal charge of guilt. See: Asamblea Nacional del Ecuador, Código Orgánico Integral Penal (COIP), available https://www.asambleanacional.gob.ec/es/ley/codigo-organico-integral-penal (in Spanish).
  25. ^ "Hija de exministro imputado en caso Villavicencio señala a Noboa por su arresto en EE.UU". Yahoo News (in Spanish). 2025-09-09. Retrieved 2025-09-21.
  26. ^ a b "Caso Villavicencio: Jueza niega apelación de Fiscalía por prisión de José Serrano y Xavier Jordán". Primicias. 2025-09-11. Retrieved 2025-09-21.
  27. ^ Amura. "Solanda Goyes: Investigación por peculado es represalia por defender legalidad en el caso Villavicencio - Notimundo". fmmundo.com (in Spanish). Retrieved 2025-09-21.
  28. ^ "Ecuador: Interference with Constitutional Court threatens rule of law and safeguards against abuse of power". OHCHR. Retrieved 2025-09-21.
  29. ^ "EEUU condecora al ministro del Interior de Ecuador por lucha antinarcóticos".
  30. ^ "Mauricio Rodas condecora al ministro del Interior, José Serrano | la República EC". 7 December 2014.
  31. ^ a b Oñate, Sara; Ortega, Javier (2015-04-27). "Embajada de Chile condecoró al ministro del Interior José Serrano". El Comercio (in Spanish). Retrieved 2025-09-21.
  32. ^ a b c AP Archive (2015-07-21). COLOMBIA: NATIONAL POLICE FORCE: CEREMONY. Retrieved 2025-09-21 – via YouTube.
  33. ^ a b admin (2016-10-05). "Condecoración al Ministro José Serrano en España". Eurocop | Software de Gestión Policial (in Spanish). Retrieved 2025-09-21.
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