Fifteen days have passed since Víctor’s death, and Ana Parrales, his mother, goes almost daily to the morgue, the Prosecutor’s Office and the Civil Registry to try to process the removal of the body of her son, who died asphyxiated in a clinic rehabilitation.
In that center, which did not have permits, seven patients died after allegedly burning mattresses to try to escape, as a fire broke out.
Three bodies from that tragic event still remain in the morgue. There are those of two young people who are burned and who are undergoing other types of tests to determine their identity. The other is that of Víctor, who was already recognized by Ana. Her mother says that he was not hit by the flames, but by the smoke.
The problem is that the 23-year-old is not registered in the Civil Registry, that is, for the State he does not exist; That is why it is complex to identify him and deliver his remains to whom he claims to be his mother.
Ana admits that “she was left, that it was a mistake not to have enrolled him when he was a child”; but she explains, in her defense, that she expected the father of her child to give him her last name, and this did not happen.
In addition, she says that he was born at home and that they asked for the “born alive” document that they deliver in maternity hospitals, and that she could not get it when she tried to do the paperwork.
Now he wanders between the morgue and the Civil Registry trying to solve the lack of documents.
At the morgue, the first day they asked her for some identification document, and she only answered that her son had a scar on his abdomen. So, they sent her to the Civil Registry so that they could give her some legal support, but in that entity they ask her for the death certificate from the INEN; the problem is that, without an identity, the Police cannot issue that document.
Ana asks for help, saying that she doesn’t even have money for the ticket. This Wednesday she hoped to meet with a Criminalistics agent to guide her and know who to turn to.
She mentions that an inscription would have to be made post-mortem and that an official from the Civil Registry would have to take the fingerprints of her son and enter it into the system before issuing his death certificate, so that the body can be delivered to him.
The mother said that, despite not having an identity, Víctor did receive medical attention when he needed it and that he obtained all the vaccines when he was a child. Regarding the education of her son, she said that he managed to attend school, but that when she wanted to enroll him in a school they did ask for a birth certificate and Víctor could not continue studying.
He had been in the clandestine rehabilitation center for a week when it caught fire during the carnival holiday.
Underregistration in Ecuador
Thousands of people of all ages live in Ecuador without being registered in the Civil Registry. This underreporting was evident during the coronavirus vaccination campaign.
According to a study by the World Bank and its Identification for Development initiative, there are about 146,000 people without identity in Ecuador.
In addition, another case that revealed this situation was the arrest of alias Ñorqui, the minor involved in the crime of Efraín Ruales and whose legal situation is still uncertain, since his lawyers request the annulment of the process against him, because he was sent to a prison for the elderly when he was arrested, and it was not known that he was still 17 years old, because he was not registered in the Civil Registry. (I)
Source: Eluniverso
Mario Twitchell is an accomplished author and journalist, known for his insightful and thought-provoking writing on a wide range of topics including general and opinion. He currently works as a writer at 247 news agency, where he has established himself as a respected voice in the industry.
