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.

在厄瓜多尔，仇恨犯罪第一次在法庭上受到审判，并被定罪。这是一个年轻的非裔厄瓜多尔前学员迈克尔·阿塞（Michael Arce）的案子，他赢得了对埃洛伊·阿法罗军事学校（ESMIL）的费尔南多·恩卡拉达上尉的审判。ESMIL属于厄瓜多尔武装部队，这是一个享有很高声望并保证公民权利和民主的国家机构，但不是所有人。阿尔斯（Arce）在ESMIL遭受了2个月的屈辱和酷刑。通过社会法律分析，本文证明了种族定型观念和偏见的正常化，以及教育和司法系统中结构和制度种族主义有时微妙的存在。