Interior Minister Patricio Carrillo said that a lawyer who disappeared from a school that trains police officers in Ecuador was found dead on Wednesday, 21st, and he was alarmed by the increasing number of femicides in the country.
“@PoliciaEcuador did its job and found María Belén. I deeply regret her death, a murder of a woman that will not go unpunished,” Carrillo said on Twitter.
Lawyer María Belén Bernal disappeared on September 11 and her body was found on the Casitagua hill, 5 km from the school, on the outskirts of Quito.
“With deep pain and anger, I regret to inform you that María Belén has been found. Femicide will not go unpunished and all those responsible will be brought to justice,” President Guillermo Lasso said on Twitter.
Lasso, who is in the US, expressed his “solidarity” with the lawyer’s mother, Elizabeth Otavalo, and her young son.
Bernal, 34, disappeared after entering Escola Superior de Polícia (ESP) to visit her husband, Lieutenant Germán Cáceres, according to a complaint from the victim’s family.
Cáceres, a lecturer at this institution, was summoned to testify with the prosecutor’s office two days after the disappearance and fled, so the police started the dismissal process because he did not show up for work.
– “Forgive me” –
The case has reignited claims by social groups in the face of high rates of gender violence in Ecuador, where at least 573 femicides have been recorded since 2014, according to the MP.
“We will find Prisons wherever he is, and we will bring him to justice. I apologize and apologize to Elizabeth Otavalo (Bernal’s mother) and granddaughter,” Carrillo said.
According to the police, the main suspect is Cáceres. “This is a heinous crime that saddens and shames us all; it is unacceptable for a police officer to take the life of another, while the duty of every police officer is to serve and protect the citizens,” the police department said in a statement.
According to the police report, Bernal arrived at the ESP in the early hours of Sunday, September 11, at an unusual time for visitors.
“I was bringing food (…) so the (control) agent allowed entry,” said the police commander, General Fausto Salinas, during the search for the lawyer.
He noted that civilians “cannot enter late at night (at night) except in these exceptional circumstances”.
After she disappeared, Lasso ordered the then ESP director to be fired. The government is offering a $20,000 reward to anyone who locates Cáceres.
– One murder in 28 hours –
“We will not rest until we bring the killer to justice, disciplinary proceedings are underway against those who, through act or omission, failed to fulfill their duties and allowed this to happen,” the police said. .
Femicide in Ecuador is punishable by up to 26 years in prison. Relatives of the victim and activists protested in front of the police school and the Ministry of Public Affairs due to the high rate of such crimes in the country.
Geraldine Guerra of the Aldea Foundation, which maps femicide in Ecuador, reported 206 femicides so far in 2022.
“One woman has been killed for femicide every 28 hours in Ecuador this year,” he said.
Official statistics show that 65 out of every 100 women between the ages of 15 and 49 in the country have experienced some form of violence.
sp/pld/ll/mvv/ap/mvv
© Agence France-Press
source: Noticias
