00:00In Equal, the number of missing persons is increasing as 1,728 disappearances were reported in the first quarter of the year alone.
00:08One of the most impactful cases is that of David Romo, unresolved for more than 11 years.
00:13Our colleague Gabriela Mena with the details.
00:20Between January and March 2025, 20 complaints of disappearances were filed in Equator per day.
00:26Two more than in the same period of 2024 according to data from the Association of Families and Friends of Disappeared Persons.
00:33For the Association's representative, this reflects how the crisis of insecurity has worsened, which also shows the impunity on the part of the authorities.
00:41In the first quarter of the year, 1,728 reports of disappearances were reported.
00:47Of these, 353 remain open and 94 were located lifeless.
00:51Y 94 fueron localizadas sin vida.
00:56If we talk about impunity, let us not forget that this justice system is a corrupt system.
01:06The Association of Relatives and Friends of Disappeared Persons in Equator has been denouncing it, but nobody has paid attention to us, so that is why we do not have an investigation you will see, we do not have justice, we do not have memory.
01:17We do not have reparation, nor do we have the right to non-repetition, and these cases continue to occur, and every day there are many more.
01:24The fact that a prosecutor changes agents violates justice, the human right that all missing persons have with their families.
01:34But that's not all, in 2024, 6,875 complaints were reported, an approximate of 18 per day.
01:49Of that total, according to the Association, 838 cases continue without answer, 394 were found lifeless.
01:55Disappearances in Ecuador continue to rise, and there are hundreds of unpunished cases.
02:02Meanwhile, in Ecuador, citizens remain worried and fearful, afraid that insecurity will allow one of their loved ones or close people to go out one day and never return home.
02:16The number of missing persons continues to increase, Geyas, for example, accounted for 39.6% of the missing persons found dead, Pichensha with 15.2%, and Esmeraldas, 8.1%.
02:28We worry every day because in certain parts of the country insecurities are fatal.
02:39We all have that fear of going out and not coming back.
02:41It is a scary situation. It has not happened to me or to anyone I know, but I have heard of cases.
02:54The concern and fear is clear, and to this is added the concern of the citizens for the forced disappearances committed by military patrols.
03:05According to the Permanent Human Rights Committee of Geyasquil, 33 such cases have been documented in 2024 alone, including the case of the four children of Geyasquil, where 16 military personnel are charged with the forced disappearance and murder of the four minors.
03:20Gabriela Mena, Telesur Ecuador.
