Galo Ortega, father of Javier Ortega, places some candles during a sit-in in front of the Carondelet Palace in Quito. Photo: Julio Estrella / EL COMERCIO
Ricardo Rivasbrother of the murdered photographer Paul Rivaspointed out this April 13, 2023 that a commission of the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ, for its acronym in English) will arrive in Ecuador next week and will hold a meeting.
The meeting will be on Tuesday, April 17, at 08:00. The place has not yet been defined, but it will be in Quito. The relatives of Rivas, of the journalist javier ortega and the driver Efrain Segarraalso killed in April 2018, have met with CPJ members in the United States in previous years.
They know about the case and even made a accompaniment to relatives for management before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and the Senate in Washington. “We have had strong support from them,” he said. Ricardo Rivas by clarifying that this time the commission does not come exclusively for his case, but that it will be a meeting with various organizations.
“They come for a macro theme, which is what happens in the country, instability and insecurity. To get information about the murder of various journalists that have been reported. He harassment that has been generated by the issues of corruption and that it is the authorities themselves who they generate violence towards the journalistRivas explained.
He has the expectation that from this meeting with the commission a document is embodied in which it is evidenced, at an international level, what is happening in Ecuador.
That is why he considers this visit important. Hopefully they can meet with him too. president (Guillermo Lasso) so that they give a vision of what exists in society since the President does not want to meet with us,” he said.
He hopes that the commission will serve as a “bridge” with Lasso. He recalled that Lasso made a commitment to his family during the second round of elections, before he became president, “but he arrived and forgot about it.”
The relatives request the declassification of the information on the meetings of the State Security Council (Cosepe) of the previous Government, related to the actions of the Executive during the kidnapping of the journalistic team.
On the other hand, a hearing is scheduled for the end of April in Colombia, to file charges against a person who would have participated in the murder. Rivas follow the due diligence telematics From Ecuador.
Vigil in the Plaza Grande
Rivas’s statements came after the vigil organized by relatives and friends of the murdered journalistic team, in the Big squarein front of the Carondelet Palace, the afternoon and evening of this April 13.
They raised their voices again after five years, since on April 13, 2018, then-President Lenin Moreno confirmed the murder of the journalistic team. Although based on their own investigations, the relatives indicate that the murders occurred on April 7 and 8 of that year, in Killing, Emeraldsat the hands of dissidents of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).
“For Javier, for Paúl, for Efraín, nobody gets tired!” Galo Ortega, father of the murdered journalist Javier Ortega, led with his voice.
Actions in memory of the murdered
Rivas announced that the We Miss 3 Foundation, framed in human rights, with the aim of making society aware of the case. “Here is a Foundation that understands them (the relatives of similar cases) and that is going to raise its voice to highlight these problems to highlight the injustice, not only in this case but in others,” she emphasized. The Foundation will focus on preserving the rights of journalists.
Carlos Mora, a journalist and part of the Foundation, announced the initiative to stage a play to commemorate the impunity in the case. It will feature national and international artists, thanks to an Ecuadorian-Spanish alliance.
For this purpose, they launched a fundraising campaign on April 13, which will last for three months. They plan to premiere the play at the beginning of November 2023, within the framework of the International Day against impunity for crimes against journalists. The goal of the Foundation is to raise USD 13,000. Any economic contribution can be made through www.gofundme.com/f/teatro-memoria-nps-faltan-3.