Ecuadorian police found an unknown number of bodies in an area near a military base on Tuesday and are investigating whether the bodies may be those of some of the four children who were last seen earlier this month, officials said. It was seen being carried by men in military uniform.
The case of the children aged 11 to 15, who disappeared on December 8, has deeply shaken Ecuador, with rights groups and the public demanding information about their whereabouts and demanding that the case of enforced disappearance be addressed. Be examined as it happens.
Pressed for answers, officials said 16 soldiers were detained and the disappearance of the minors was being investigated.
Also on Tuesday, prosecutors said they were considering charging some members of the military with enforced disappearance in the case. He did not provide further details, and no charges have been filed yet.
The bodies, discovered Tuesday, were found in a mangrove area near the western town of Taura, where the military base is located, according to a police official who spoke to The Associated Press.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the case, did not say how many bodies were found, but said they were now being analyzed to determine whether they were children.
Two other officials tracking the case, who asked not to be identified because they were not authorized to speak to the media, told the AP that the bodies were burned and showed signs of violence.
President Daniel Ngoboa, whose government has used the military to fight rising crime as part of a security strategy with which he seeks re-election in February, has promised that his administration will cover up anyone missing. Will not do.
The children went missing in the coastal city of Guayaquil, where dozens of people demonstrated on Monday demanding accountability and answers.
Defense Minister Gian Carlo Loffredo on Tuesday ordered the army to detain 16 soldiers pending an investigation, according to a statement posted on Twitter.
According to the police official, the bodies were found near the Taura military base on the outskirts of Guayaquil, where the Ecuadorian Air Force is headquartered. The 16 detained soldiers were assigned to that base.
Surveillance videos emerged this week showing men in military uniforms grabbing two boys and taking them away. The two were believed to be among the four children who disappeared that night.
Loffredo confirmed on Monday that all four were detained in the area where the footage was taken.
Video seen by the AP shows a group of children, men in uniform, two children sitting in the back of a pickup truck and the vehicle driving through the streets of Guayaquil. The footage appears to support the account of Luis Arroyo, the father of the two missing children.
Arroyo earlier told local media that her children were walking home after playing soccer when two vehicles carrying people in military uniforms arrived in the area. He told that the children were chased and four were caught and sent away.
It was not clear how he knew this.
Defense Minister Loffredo told reporters on Monday that, according to a military report, the children were detained by a patrol with 16 agents who “saw eight men who were allegedly robbing a woman ”
He said the army later released the minors and did not hand them over to the police. The footage reviewed by AP does not show the alleged robbery.
