Ecuador confirmed that the burned bodies belong to the four missing boys | Military news

A judge ordered that 16 members of the military remain behind bars while the death is investigated.

Ecuador’s attorney general confirmed that the charred remains found last week in the city of Taura are the bodies of four minors who went missing on December 8.

The attorney general’s office released the revelations on Tuesday after the boy’s disappearance sparked outrage across the country, as well as questions about the involvement of Ecuador’s military.

“Results of forensic genetic tests confirm that the four bodies found in Taura correspond to three teenagers and a child who went missing after a military operation on December 8,” said the office in posting on social networks.

The families of the four missing boys – aged between 11 and 15 – said they had gone outside in the coastal city of Guayaquil to play football when they disappeared.

Surveillance camera footage shows two of the four boys being taken away by soldiers in a pickup truck.

But the Associated Press news agency reported that the investigation into the boy’s disappearance appears to be at a standstill. Although authorities had surveillance footage the day after the alleged kidnapping, an investigation into the military’s involvement was not announced for the next 15 days.

The investigation into the alleged involvement of the military began only after family members sought more information on social media and in the press.

The boy’s disappearance comes amid a crackdown on gang-related crime in Ecuador that has involved several declaring a state of emergency.

The orders gave sweeping powers to state security forces, but critics warned that increased militarization could open the door to human rights abuse.

Last week, 16 members of the Ecuadorian army were arrested in connection with the boy’s disappearance.

Just before their remains were identified Tuesday, Judge Dennis Ugalde Alvarez ordered the 16 military members behind bars pending an investigation into their alleged involvement.

Antonio Arroyo, the uncle of the two missing boys, told the Reuters news agency after Tuesday’s verdict that he hoped the military members involved in the case would be jailed.

“Let them go directly to prison where they belong. We want them detained [in jail]and not in a military base,” Arroyo said.

Protests over the disappearances, known collectively as “Caso Malvinas” or “The Malvinas Case”, have erupted in the capital Quito, as well as in Guayaquil.

“We will not accept that. We are angry and outraged because the government and the authorities have not said anything, retired Fernando Bustamante (70) told Reuters as he stood with protesters outside the court in Guayaquil where the judge handed down the verdict.

In his efforts to address a increase in violent crime in Ecuador, president Daniel Noboa he designated some 22 criminal groups as “terrorist” organizations and declared several states of emergency to allow the military to assist the police.

In April and voters overwhelmingly approved a series of measures giving the police greater powers in the fight against crime.

However, such states of emergency have a long and troubled history in Latin America, where security forces have sometimes claimed emergency powers in the name of crime suppression.

Abuses of the state such as corruption, torture and forced disappearances they were often associated with such a declaration of urgency.