Análisis constitucional del recorte presupuestario en época de pandemia en Ecuador

Abstract

Covid-19 is the official denomination created by the World Health Organization (WHO) for refer to a disease caused for the SARS-Cov-2, virus that causes an acute respiratory syndrome to whomsoever suffers it, aggravating their clinical situation. This disease, according to the official sources and the public knowledge, was detected in Wuhan City, located in the Hubei province from the People´s Republic of China. Its high viral load, in addition to the unconcern of the authorities for implement the biosafety protocols, was one of the causes of its rapid spread all around the world. Under these circumstances, the WHO declared a global pandemic on January 30th, 2020. Since its arrival to Ecuador, with an imported case, the Covid-19 spread fast for the country and the consequence was the high numbers of infected people who mostly lost their lives. This situation caused immediately collapse of the national health system. Consequently the president of the period 2017-2021, Lenín Boltaire Moreno Garcés, declared an exception regime. The measures contained in the presidential decree included limitation and restriction of certain rights was produced interruption of the production activities causing to short term a critical situation for the ecuadorian economy that had badly beaten from the last year due to fiscal reforms as part of commitments acquired by the government with the international financial institutions in an attempt to reduce socio-economic crisis. At the call of the president for taking urgent measures to attend this situation, the competent Ministry for the public policies execution, in the Vice Minister person, was decided cut the General National Budget 2020, whose approval was denied in the first instance by the National Assembly but was executed by the rule of law causing a reduction in the budget entities, between them, the Universities and Polytechnics Schools. Certainly, a low budget for education during the exception state cause alarm because it contradicts the Ecuadorian Constitution configuring it as an imminent violation of human rights such as education. This legal research has the purpose of determine the legitimacy of the measures employed around the higher education budget reduction during the exception regime in pandemic time. Comply the objectives will be possible due to normative and jurisprudential analysis as well the investigation of information in scientist journals; application of adequate methods and techniques like an interviews to experts with extensive knowledge of budget reduction.