2024-05-11 08:02:18
After the order of the Constitutional Court, the Ministry of the Interior declassified the information on the kidnapping of the journalistic team and gave the families 39 pages and a CD.
In a closed-door event, at the Carondelet Palace, the families of Efraín Segarra, Javier Ortega and Paúl Rivas received the minutes of the Security Council sessions, which had remained classified since 2018.
It consists of 39 pages and a CD. These are the documents that the governments of Lenín Moreno and Guillermo Lasso did not allow to come to light, after the kidnapping and murder of the El Comercio journalistic team, on the northern border.
This was only achieved after the Constitutional Court ordered the Ministry of the Interior in a ruling to declassify the information and deliver the documents to the journalists’ families. Ricardo Rivas, Paúl’s brother, explained that now is the five-day period that families have to confirm to the Court that the information received is complete. Later, if they decide, they can make the information public.
While Cristian Segarra, Efraín’s son, confirmed that they hope to find information that will help the Prosecutor’s Office in its investigations and “brings us closer to what happened.” And Galo Ortega, Javier’s father, added that they hope that the information will reveal to them what they have hidden from them during these years.
On the part of the Government, the Secretary of Communication, Irene Vélez, was present, who said that previous governments must respond for what they did, such as not delivering the information that the Court had previously requested. According to the official, the Government of President Daniel Noboa is convinced “that this is an act of historical vindication.”
The minutes
The Court not only ordered the declassification of the documents, but also of the audios, the transcripts and the list of attendees at the three Cosepe sessions in 2018:
No. 18, March 28.
No. 19, April 13.
No. 20, April 17.
On Wednesday, March 28, 2018, it was confirmed that the Oliver Sinisterra Front was responsible for the kidnapping. That day the first session of Cosepe related to the issue was held, and on that same date, the Colombian newspaper El Tiempo reported that the journalistic team had been released, something that was later denied.
Friday, April 13, 2018, however, was the day that President Lenín Moreno confirmed the death of Ortega, Rivas and Segarra. Two days before, a pamphlet circulated supposedly from the Oliver Sinisterra Front confirming the murder and talking about an armed incursion by the Army, and a day before, photographs of the bodies of the journalistic team.
On Tuesday, April 17, 2018, however, Ecuador confirmed the kidnapping of an Ecuadorian couple, Óscar Villacís and Katty Velasco. Their bodies were later found with signs of torture.
Source: PRIMICIAS