Ecuador has confirmed that the charred bodies are those of four missing boys. military news
A judge has ordered 16 military members to remain behind bars while an investigation into the deaths continues.
Ecuador’s attorney general has confirmed that charred remains found last week in the town of Taura are the bodies of four minors who disappeared on December 8.
The attorney general’s office announced the findings Tuesday after the boys’ disappearance sparked nationwide outrage as well as questions about the involvement of Ecuador’s military.
“The results of forensic genetic tests confirm that the four bodies found in Taura match those of three teenagers and a child who disappeared after a military operation on December 8,” the office said in a social media post Were.”
The families of four missing boys, aged 11 to 15, said they had gone out in the coastal city of Guayaquil to play soccer when they disappeared.
Surveillance footage shows two of the four boys being taken away in a pickup truck by soldiers.
But the Associated Press news agency reported that the investigation into the boys’ disappearance appears to be stalled. While authorities had surveillance footage the day after the suspected kidnapping, an investigation into the military’s involvement was not announced for another 15 days.
An investigation into the military’s alleged involvement began only after family members pressed for more information on social media and in the press.
The boys’ disappearance comes amid a crackdown on gang-related crime in Ecuador, including several emergency declarations.
Those orders have given sweeping powers to state security forces, but critics warn that increased militarization could open the door to human rights abuses.
Last week, 16 members of the Ecuadorian military were arrested in connection with the boys’ disappearance.
Shortly before their remains were identified on Tuesday, Judge Dennis Ugalde Alvarez ordered 16 military members to be kept behind bars while their alleged involvement was investigated.
Antonio Arroyo, the uncle of two of the missing boys, told Reuters news agency after Tuesday’s verdict that he hoped the military members involved in the case would be arrested.
“Let them go straight to jail where they belong. We want them to be detained (in jail), not in a military base,” Arroyo said.
Protests over the disappearance, known collectively as the “Caso Malvinas” or “Malvinas case”, have erupted in the capital of Quito as well as Guayaquil.
“We will not accept this. We are angry and angry because the government and the authorities have said nothing,” retired Fernando Bustamante, 70, told Reuters as he stood with protesters outside the court in Guayaquil where the judge handed down the verdict.
In his efforts to address the increase in violent crime in Ecuador, President Daniel Noboa has designated approximately 22 criminal groups as “terrorist” organizations and declared a state of emergency in several states to allow the military to assist the police. Has announced.
In April, voters also overwhelmingly approved a series of measures to give law enforcement more sweeping powers to fight crime.
However, such states of emergency have a long and turbulent history in Latin America, where security forces have sometimes claimed extraordinary powers in the name of combating crime.
State abuses such as corruption, torture and enforced disappearances have often been linked to such emergency declarations.
