Ecuadoreans Demand Justice for Their Disappeared Relatives

Association of Relatives and Friends of Disappeared People in Ecuador (Asfadec) mobilized in Quito to demand justice for their relatives.

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Activists held a sit-in at the Carondelet Palace while voicing that justice was missing and disappeared people were more than cold statistics. 

Asfadec President Lidia Rueda highlighted that the mobilization responded to the need to show the prevalence of "a serious" situation of human rights violations such as disappearances in Ecuador. 

Demonstrators demanded answers about their loved ones' conditions while calling on the Prosecutor's Office to speed the investigations up. 

The meme reads, "With music, art, and dance we denounce that we are not all, missing people are still disappeared. For truth and justice. This is how International Human Right day concludes."

Interior Minister recorded 5,208 reports of missing persons in the South American nation only from January to August this year. At least 56 percent of the cases were women, and 44 percent were men. 

Of these reports, 257 people are still missing, and their cases are under investigation. In 2020, missing people tallies climbed to 227.

Rueda described the lack of answers from the State as "indolence", adding that this position is a violation of the mental and physical health of the family members.