Ecuador air force chief apologises for killings of four disappeared children
Military commander acknowledges state responsibility for disappearance and deaths of four Afro-Ecuadorian boys.
The General Commander of the Ecuadorian Air Force, Mauricio Salazar, issued a public apology to the families of four Afro-Ecuadorian children who were forcibly disappeared and later found murdered after being detained by members of the armed forces in southern Guayaquil. Speaking under a Constitutional Court ruling, Salazar acknowledged “with shame and pain” that the State was responsible for the incident and formally recognised the forced disappearance and subsequent deaths of the four boys.
The victims disappeared on 8 December 2024 in the Las Malvinas area and their bodies were discovered nearly a month later near a military facility in Taura, showing signs of torture. During the event, relatives of the victims addressed the crowd, with some accepting the apology while others called for greater transparency about the case. The moment marks the first time in Ecuador’s history that a senior military official has publicly acknowledged state responsibility in front of families of victims of forced disappearances.
This story is written and edited by the Global South World team, you can contact us here.
