A court in Ecuador has delivered a landmark ruling, sentencing 11 air force personnel to more than three decades in prison for the forced disappearance of four Afro-Ecuadorian boys during a security operation in Guayaquil. The case, known nationally as the 'Guayaquil Four', has become a focal point for scrutiny of President Daniel Noboa's hardline anti-crime measures.
The Sentences and the Crime
The presiding judge, Jovanny Suárez, alongside two other judges, sentenced the 11 servicemen to 34 years and eight months each. Five other troops, who confessed and cooperated with authorities, received reduced sentences of two and a half years. One individual was acquitted. The court found the prosecution had proven "the cruelty with which the four minors were victimised."
The trial centred on the crime of forced disappearance, with a separate investigation into kidnapping resulting in death still ongoing. The victims were Steven Medina, aged 11, Nehemías Saúl Arboleda, 14, and brothers Josué and Ismael Arroyo, aged 14 and 15.
A Brutal Sequence of Events
The boys were returning from a football match in the impoverished Las Malvinas neighbourhood of southern Guayaquil on 8 December last year when they were stopped by air force personnel. The military had been deployed on city streets following President Noboa's declaration of an "internal armed conflict" against drug traffickers.
For over two weeks, their families were left in agonising uncertainty. The tragedy culminated on Christmas Eve, when charred bodies were discovered approximately 25 miles from where the boys were taken.
Despite initial denials from Defence Minister Gian Carlo Loffredo, who blamed "criminal groups", CCTV footage later emerged showing the boys being assaulted and forced into military vehicles. Testimony revealed the children were subjected to racist taunts, beaten with fists, kicks, belts, and gun barrels, and stripped naked before being abandoned in a remote, high-crime area.
Broader Implications and a Defence Claim
The case has highlighted the acute vulnerability of Afro-Ecuadorians to human rights abuses. It stands as a stark test of accountability under President Noboa's security policy, which places the armed forces at the forefront of combating crime.
During the trial, one of the convicted soldiers who confessed, Christian Eduardo A. Q., claimed a lack of proper training contributed to the atrocity. "I never received any training in human rights or operational procedures," he stated, explaining he was a weather observer and air traffic technician sent to patrol streets due to staff shortages.
While the defence teams denied their clients were responsible for the ultimate killings, forensic evidence showed all four boys died from close-range gunshots to the head and back before their bodies were burned and dismembered. Judge Suárez ruled that "the abandonment of the minors in a dangerous and desolate place was the cause of the victims' deaths."
The sentencing brings a measure of judicial closure, but profound questions remain about systemic racism, military conduct, and the human cost of Ecuador's escalating war on drugs.
