Ecuador’s attorney general has confirmed that charred remains found last week in the city of Taura are the bodies of four minors who disappeared on December 8.
The attorney general’s office announced the findings on Tuesday after the boys’ disappearance spurred nationwide outrage, as well as questions about the involvement of Ecuador’s military.
“The results of the forensic genetic tests confirm that the four bodies found in Taura correspond to the three teenagers and a child who disappeared after a military operation on December 8,” the office said in a social media post.
The families of the four missing boys — aged 11 to 15 — said they had gone outside in the coastal city of Guayaquil to play football when they disappeared.
Surveillance footage appeared to show two of the four boys being taken away by soldiers in a pick-up truck.
But The Associated Press news agency reported that the investigation into the boys’ disappearance appeared to have been stalled. While authorities had the surveillance footage a day after the suspected abduction, a probe into the military’s involvement was not announced for another 15 days.
The probe into the military’s alleged involvement only began after family members pressed for more information on social media and in the press.
The boys’ disappearance takes place amid a crackdown on gang-related crime in Ecuador that has included several state of emergency declarations.
Those orders have granted wide-ranging powers to state security forces, but critics have warned the increased militarisation could open the door to human rights abuses.
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