Colombian Senate received relatives of journalistic team of El Comercio newspaper

Ecuadornews:

The delegation of relatives of the EL COMERCIO journalism team was received on Thursday, May 17, 2018, at the Second Committee of the Colombian Senate. There, Ricardo Rivas, brother of photographer Paúl Rivas, expressed the need for Colombia to cooperate with the repatriation of the bodies of the relatives.

For families, this is one of the points that requires immediate attention. Senator Jimmy Chamorro, member of the Commission, expressed his support and recalled that there are still two people kidnapped, of whom no news has been obtained.

He requested through two briefs that the Ministry of Defense of his country explain the actions taken since the abduction and requested that the principal of that Portfolio of State, Luis Carlos Villegas, appear before the Senate.

Earlier, relatives went to the Colombian Foreign Ministry, where they had a meeting with a human rights delegate from that entity.

Cristian Segarra, son of Efraín Segarra, attended the meeting with the hope of knowing the document that Foreign Minister María Ángela Holguín undertook to elaborate. Through this letter, the official had to ratify her commitment to support the investigation that will be carried out by the group of experts of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.

“They told us that they would review the information and issue a response as soon as possible,” Segarra said after the meeting.

Today it is planned that the relatives will meet with the Ecuadorian residents in Bogotá. The appointment will be at the Ecuadorian Embassy in that city. A meeting with representatives of non-governmental organizations will be held before noon.

To close the agenda, the Ecuadorian delegation will expose the commitments assumed by the Colombian Government around the three objectives proposed by the Ecuadorians. These are the fact that the Colombian government effectively collaborates with the investigation that the IACHR will carry out, that the Office of the Prosecutor of that country will provide relevant information and that there will be cooperation for the repatriation of the remains.

In the four days of stay in Colombia, the relatives were received by President Juan Manuel Santos, by the attorney Fernando Carrillo, by the Prosecutor’s Office and the Foreign Ministry. Segarra was due to return yesterday and the rest will do so today on a scheduled flight at 22:45. (I)

Source: http://www.elcomercio.com/actualidad/senado-colombia-familiares-periodistas-frontera.html