Relatives of four Ecuadorian boys, whose charred bodies were discovered near a military base, hold signs during a protest outside the Guayaquil Prosecutor’s Office in Guayaquil, Ecuador on Tuesday. The Ecuadorian Prosecutor’s Office ordered the detention of 16 soldiers allegedly involved in the disappearance of the four minors on Dec. 8, in the south of Guayaquil. Photo by Cristina Bazan/EPA-EFE/
Jan. 1 (UPI) — Four charred bodies found near an Ecuador military base were identified Tuesday as four boys who were last seen being forced into a military patrol car.
A judge in Guayaquil ordered the detention Tuesday of 16 air force members who are accused of being involved in the boys’ disappearance. If convicted, they could face up to 26 years in prison.
The boys, who were between the ages of 11 and 15, were identified as Saúl Arboleda, Steven Medina and brothers Josué and Ismael Arroyo. They were reported missing after playing soccer on Dec. 8.
“The results of genetic forensic tests confirm that the four bodies found in Taura correspond to the three teenagers and a boy who disappeared after a Dec. 8 military operation,” said Ecuador’s prosecution service.
Surveillance video showed the boys being detained by soldiers. According to the soldiers, the boys were held for a short detention and were released in good health.
Last week, authorities raided the Taura base and confiscated the vehicle used to transport the boys, as well as the soldiers’ phones.
The boys’ disappearance has shocked the South African nation and sparked protests against the military, which has been cracking down on violent criminal groups.
“Nothing will calm the pain of the parents, just as nothing will erase the mark of murderers from all those involved, directly or indirectly,” said Guayaquil Mayor Aquiles Alvarez.
“The truth is that this country has hit rock bottom. Paradigms have been broken, but to make things worse. It makes you want nothing, everything hurts,” Alvarez added.
President Daniel Noboa — who ordered the crackdown on narco gangs throughout Ecuador, where kidnapping, extortion and murders have become rampant — said there would be no impunity in the case of the four boys.
The defense ministry and armed forces also vowed to cooperate in the investigations.
“What pain to close the year with this tragedy that mourns the country,” the prefect of Guayas Marcela Aguiñaga wrote on X.
“It is unacceptable that the lives of our children end this way. Let fear not silence us, and let solidarity become the voice that demands justice so that something like this never happens again.”