GUAYAQUIL, Ecuador — On Monday, President Daniel Noboa of Ecuador affirmed his commitment to transparency regarding the case of four children who vanished after reportedly fleeing from a military convoy earlier this month. Noboa’s administration faces mounting scrutiny from human rights groups and citizens alike as the country grapples with escalating crime rates.
In the coastal city of Guayaquil, where the children, aged between 11 and 15, went missing on December 8, scores of demonstrators gathered to call for updates on their investigation, urging authorities to consider the case as a forced disappearance.
In the meantime, disturbing surveillance footage has surfaced, revealing men in military attire apprehending two boys, believed to be part of the group that went missing that fateful night. Defense Minister Gian Carlo Loffredo confirmed that the children were indeed detained in the vicinity captured by the cameras.
The videos, which were provided by a city contractor to both the Attorney General’s Office and the National Police anti-kidnapping unit, depict a scene where a group of children is seen fleeing, along with men in uniforms who are seen transferring two children into the back of a pick-up truck before driving off through the streets of Guayaquil. This footage has corroborated the account shared by the father of two of the missing children to the local media.
Moreover, the Attorney General’s Office reported that early Monday, officials executed a raid on an air force base located on the outskirts of Guayaquil. This operation resulted in the confiscation of two white vans and the cellphones of 16 soldiers who conducted an unspecified mission on the day the children disappeared.
In the reviewed footage, viewers can observe two boys — one donned in a blue shirt and the other in orange — being taken by uniformed personnel, forced face down into the back of a white pick-up truck fitted with tinted windows. One of the children is seen being physically assaulted during this event.
The vehicle itself was outfitted with a flashing siren, lacked a license plate, and featured a black bench in the rear — attributes typically associated with military patrols. The individuals in the video were armed and dressed in camouflage uniforms, displaying insignias akin to those of the Ecuadorian Air Force.
Luis Arroyo, whose two children are among the missing, recounted to local media that his kids were heading home after playing soccer when they were pursued by vehicles carrying soldiers. He claimed that four of the children were captured amidst the chase, although it remains unclear how he acquired these details.
Certain segments of the footage feature 11 children congregating near an overpass. Shortly thereafter, chaos ensues as some of the children begin to run; two are then confronted — one by a uniformed figure and the other by a civilian. These two are later seen being forcibly placed into the truck.
Loffredo provided a narrative indicating that a military patrol consisting of 16 agents detained the children under the pretext of intervening in what they alleged to be a robbery involving eight individuals targeting a woman. However, he noted that the minors were eventually released and not turned over to law enforcement, a claim that contradicts the footage, which does not substantiate any reported robbery.
Noboa expressed to local station Radio Democracy that it is premature to categorize the missing children as victims of forced disappearance. “We stand for justice, and whether it was a civilian, a priest, a policeman, or a soldier involved, at the end of the day, people are seeking answers,” he remarked, as he prepares for reelection in February. “We will not shield anyone.”
Fernando Bastias, a representative from Ecuador’s Permanent Committee for the Defense of Human Rights, characterized the children’s disappearance as a “serious violation of human rights,” calling for accountability and prosecution of any military individuals implicated in the case.
