Ecuador has set up a truth commission to investigate human rights abuses committed over the last 27 years, particularly during the right-wing rule of Leon Febres Cordero, who was president during the 1980s.
The role of the four-member commission is intended to "halt impunity", Rafael Correa, Ecuador's president, said on Friday.
The commission is composed of a lawyer, two human rights activists and Pedro Restrepo, whose two sons disappeared in January 1988 at the end of Febres Cordero's 1984-1988 government.
Restrepo's sons are believed to have been killed by police, who mistook them for Colombian guerrillas. Their bodies were never found.
Human rights
Gustavo Larrea, Ecuador's interior minister, said the human rights of "hundreds of citizens were systematically violated" during parts of the 1980s and 1990s when the government fought to put down a series of relatively minor leftist uprisings.
He said there have been 327 cases of political assassinations, torture and disappearances that have gone unpunished during the period.
"Impunity has made society, the state, close their eyes to the events that occurred in the country in a planned and systematic manner," he said.
Members of the victims' families and human rights groups accuse the 76-year-old Febres Cordero, for decades a dominant figure in Ecuadorean politics, of ordering political killings during his government. He has strongly denied the accusations.
Ex-president hits back
Febres Cordero, speaking at a press conference in his native port city of Guayaquil, accused Correa on Friday of forming "a tribunal of the Inquisition" and said his political enemies want to try him "for having fought terrorism".
He also called Correa "a totalitarian" and said that if the government sought to proscute him, he would not flee.
"I've never run, nor will I run," he said. "If they want to look for me, they know where to find me."
The commission will have nine months to present a report, with a possible extension of three months.
Source: Al Jazeera
1 comment:
DEAR FOLKS:
ECUADOR'S NEW SO CALLED PROGRESSIVE GOVERNMENT HEADED BY RAFAEL CORREA, IS NOTHING BUT A CHARLATAN, RACIST, ACCOMPLICE OF RACISTS MINISTERS OF GOVERNMENT, AND A REPRESSIVE BY OMMISSION OF OUR PEOPLES RIGHTS. THE UNDERSIGNED HAS FILED A CRIMINAL COMPLAINT AGAINST RAFAEL CORREA, AND HIS MINISTER OF SPORTS, FOR RACIST COMMENTS AGAINST AFROECUADORIANS. CORREA HAS THREATENED STRIKING POOR PEOPLES COMMUNITIES AND HAS ORDERED MILITARY TO REPRESS ANY DEMOSTRATION IN THE OIL RICH REGION OF THE AMAZON REGION OF ECUADOR. AND HAS ARRESTED THE HUSBAND OF AN AFROECUADORIAN WOMAN, BECAUSE THAT PERSON IS AGAINST THE INCONSISTENT AND ECOLOGICALLY DEADLY SHARKS KILLINGS. THIS IS CONSISTENT WITH BELGIAN ATTITUDES IN THE PAST. WELL, HIS WIFE IS OF BELGIAN ORIGIN, AND MR RAFAEL CORREA EXPRESSES EVEN THOUGH UNCONSCIOUSLY THOSE RACIST GENOCIDE ATTITUDE. AND WHAT IS WORSE, THE ATTORNEY GENERAL OF ECUADOR, REFUSES TO ACKNKOWLEDGE OUR COMPLAINT, AND HAS SENT POLICE AGENTS TO THE TOWN I LIVE, TO ASSASINATE ME OR HAVE ME DISAPPEAR.
CORREA IS AN EX-PROFESSOR OF UNIVERSIDAD SAN FRANCISCO DE QUITO, THE SCHOOL WHERE THE MANTA-MANAOS HIGHWAY OF GENOCIDE WAS PLANNED. NOW CORREA IS EVEN GIVING AWAY OUR SEA TERRITORY (JURISDICTION OVER OUR 200 MILE SEA LIMIT), TO HAVE THIS EXPORTING HIGHWAY OF DEATH BUILT JOINTLY WITH THE BRAZILIAN GOVERNMENT.
I WANT ALL THOSE READING THIS COMMENT TO NOT ALLOW A RACIST, EVEN THOUGH WHO IS OF A PROGRESSIVE RETHORIC TO CONFUSE YOU. THIS IS A NEW LEON FEBRES CORDERO, WHO WILL HAVE US KILL, TORTURE AND DISAPPEARED. I MYSELF WAS SUBJECT TO A NEW HOMICIDE ATTEMPT ON THE 26 SEPTEMBER 2007, AND FOR OVER MONTHS NOW HAVE FILED A COMPLAINT AGAINST THE CITY OF QUITO AND THE ECUADORIAN GOVERNMENT BEFORE THE INTERAMERICAN COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS, WHO APPARENTLY REFUSES TO FOLLOW THROUGH WITH MY COMPLAINT.
MORE IN THE NEAR FUTURE. THE 30 OF THIS MONTH WE ARE HAVING AN ELECTION TO ELECT THE REPRESENTATIVE BEFORE THE NATIONAL ASSAMBLY. WE ARE FIGHTING FOR THE DECLARATION OF THE REPUBLICA SOCIALISTA DE KETU (QUITO IN KECHUA). AND WE SEEK THE DEATH PENALTY AGAINST RACISTS!
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