Cenepa War Veterans Retake Protests

In an earlier demonstration held last May, a group of Cenepa veterans stayed 23 days in the Plaza Grande, Quito.

Cenepa Veterans are scheduled today to resume their protest against the current Law of Heroes and Heroines in the Plaza Grande, Quito.

Dozens of pasive-service military, who fought in the conflict with Peru in 1995, came back together to demand recognition and to receive the benefits of that legislation passed by the Assembly in March 2011.

This law favors approximately 1400 people, provides salaries, housing programs, health, education and other benefits in recognition of the actions of generosity and dedication to the people who met over duty or were affected by the conflict.

Jose Jumbo, coordinator of the National Unity of Cenepa Veterans, says that the measure will be taken up by the lack of response given by the Council for Citizen Participation and Social Control (CPC for its Spanish acronym) in order to suspend the accreditation of 1,400 military recognized by the Ministry of Defense as heroes.

For the Association of Cenepa Veterans the actual payroll should include some 5000 more people, for in the list of recipients of the Heroes Act, the majority of real fighters are not being taken into account. (MZ)