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Eleven soldiers convicted in killing of four boys in Guayaquil
An Ecuadorean court handed down 34-year prison sentences to 11 soldiers on Tuesday for the forced disappearance and murder of four boys last year, a case that shocked the nation amid rising gang violence.
The crime
The victims-Nehemías Arboleda, 15, Steven Medina, 11, and brothers Ismael Arroyo, 15, and Josué Arroyo, 14-were intercepted by a military patrol as they returned from playing football in Guayaquil's Malvinas neighborhood. According to the court, the soldiers forced the boys to strip, beat them, and abandoned them naked in a remote, high-risk area near a military base.
One boy managed to call his father, but by the time help arrived, they had vanished. Their charred remains were discovered days later.
Trial and verdict
Seventeen soldiers stood trial for the crime. The court ruled that the patrol acted with extreme cruelty, subjecting the boys to racist insults, beatings, and a simulated execution. Five soldiers received reduced sentences of two and a half years for cooperating with prosecutors, while a lieutenant-colonel, who was not present during the patrol, was acquitted.
The judge dismissed defense arguments that the boys were alive when left behind, concluding that abandoning them in a dangerous location directly caused their deaths. The identity of those who burned the bodies remains unknown.
Broader context
The soldiers were deployed as part of a government crackdown on criminal gangs, which have fueled a surge in violence across Ecuador. Defense officials initially claimed the boys were detained as robbery suspects, but the judge ruled they were "innocent victims of a state crime."
Court orders reparations
The ruling mandates an official apology to the families, the installation of a commemorative plaque for the victims, and mandatory human rights training for military personnel. The case has intensified scrutiny of military operations amid Ecuador's escalating security crisis.
