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Relatives of members of the El Comercio team believe that their case is on the road to impunity
Posted On 13 Dec 2018
Ecuadornews:
The lack of political will of Ecuador and Colombia to find the truth of the kidnapping and death of the three members of the newspaper team of El Comercio; the Ecuadorian prosecutor’s request that the precautionary measures of the IACHR be lifted and that the Special Monitoring Team (ESE) not extend its work beyond next December, among other elements that make the relatives of Paúl Rivas think, Javier Ortega and Efraín Segarra that the case goes “way to impunity”.
This Wednesday, Galo Ortega, Ricardo Rivas and Yadira Aguagallo, representatives of the three affected families, in a press conference rejected the words ofrepresentatives of the Ecuadorian State for this case, among them, Attorney General Iñigo Salvador.
According to Aguagallo, a couple of murdered photographer Paúl Rivas, they receive the pronouncements of the State with deep indignation and pain, because they are led to believe that the State did not speak to them with truth about the kidnapping and murder and that it has not had a real commitment to identify those responsible at all levels.
“What we believe is that the Ecuadorian State wants to leave the full weight of the investigation in Colombia to not take charge, and that is why we cannot believe in the words of the Attorney General (Iñigo Salvador) that we trust in justice,a justice that is denying the commission of a crime in its territory, which refuses to perform the documentary and testimonial skills that we have asked for, we cannot trust that justice and it is regrettable to say it, “Aguagallo explained.
Ricardo Rivas assures that the families of the three kidnapped and murdered are clear that the precautionary measures of the IACHR should not be lifted and that the ESE should not deliver its report in December but must extend its work forano ther three or four months.
Clarity of where the kidnapping was
The relatives of Paúl, Javier and Efraín made a public invitation to the prosecutor who takes the Wilson Toainga case to explain to them what is the documentation or what is the evidence to determine within the previous investigation that the kidnapping was not in Ecuador, but rather that It happened in Colombia, as Attorney Salvador indicated.
“It is much easier to throw the lives of the three boys from one side of the border to another and at this time it is much easier to do the same and not investigate. (…) Neither of the two states wants to accept their political responsibility, nor does either of the two states want to investigate, even to discard responsibilities that is to pave the way to impunity, “said Aguagallo.
Last Monday, the prosecutor Salvador on the lifting of the precautionary measuressaid that they lost their raison d’être, because the irreparable damage theyshould avoid was already caused, that is, the death of Javier Ortega, PaulRivas and Efraín Segarra.
On theother hand, in relation to the ESE finishing its work this December as it was defined in the schedule, the Ecuadorian prosecutor reflected that at the moment he does not see the need, nor the legal relevance of this instance to continue working.
Galo Ortega, father of the journalist killed by people of alias Guacho, does not rule out a hunger strike to pressure the authorities of the two countries togive a concrete answer about who caused the deaths, where the kidnapping and murder took place, what interests they were after the facts and who would havedirect and indirect participation in the fatal outcome. (I)
