Yadira Aguagallo, girlfriend of Paúl Rivas, member of the El Comercio journalistic team murdered in Colombia: ‘The three have been denied the possibility of justice as well as their families’

“The three left together, they were taken together, and an atrocious crime has been committed on the three of them and they have been denied the possibility of justice as well as their families,” says Yadira Aguagallo, girlfriend of Paúl Rivas, one of the three members of the newspaper journalistic team Trade kidnapped and murdered in Colombia in March 2018.

Almost four years have passed and for Yadira “the weight of impunity is gigantic and is increasing over time.” He considers that what happened is a case of which it seems that all the systems have already forgotten.

“The only thing we find is with closed doors, with silence and, above all, with offers that are never fulfilled,” he says.

He comments that the weight of impunity in Ecuador “is very strong” and that, as the years continue to pass, they have been “finding new data, new elements that speak of the large debts that the justice system has in the country with the clarification of the facts ”.

This November 2 marks for the eighth year the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists.

“When you add up all these factors, impunity is not only that of the justice system, and it seems that it becomes an impunity of life,” he laments.

The families of Javier Ortega, Paúl Rivas and Efraín Segarra have encountered breaches of both the Attorney General’s Office and the Constitutional Court as well as the Executive and the National Assembly, according to Yadira, who says they feel “disappointed by the entire institutionality of the country ”.

It also tells that, despite the years that have passed since that atrocious event that changed the lives of the three families, the joint struggle survives.

“We do not see ourselves as before, when we had the vigils every day in the Plaza Grande, then weekly and then monthly. We continue to be in contact, as well as with our legal team at Universidad San Francisco. That does not change over time, it is not a bond that can be undone very easily ”, he points out.

He mentions that they have thought to raise the case to international bodies to seek somehow to get justice done.

“When you have a justice system and a State that repeatedly fails you, does not take seriously the slogan of truth, of justice, there are no other alternatives than to make these cases enter an international process,” he says.

Although, he acknowledges, it is not an easy thing and it usually takes years to obtain a resolution.

“It is not easy either, you have to be aware that these are going to be ten or fifteen years in which you will have to continue persevering in the fight until finally an international court recognizes the responsibility of the State in the facts, but also in the lack of access to justice ”, he says.

Yadira considers that it is very sad that they have to resort to such actions; and regrets, furthermore, that those other instances take so long. “It is practically a life devoted to seeking the truth, justice,” he emphasizes.

On whether they have had any rapprochement with the government of President Guillermo Lasso, he says no; But he says that on some occasions Assemblyman Fernando Villavicencio has mentioned that the president has confirmed his intentions to carry out a declassification of the information.

“This is something that has never been crystallized. Recently, in an interview, the president also mentioned his interest in declassifying information, which is what would be in the hands of the Executive; and in response to these statements, we have raised letters requesting a formal meeting with him or with the competent authorities, but it has never been carried out, ”he laments.

Yadira also reports that the Constitutional Court’s response to the request for the declassification of information presented a few months ago is pending.

However, it recognizes that, in the midst of all the pain that it has been for families to cope with losses and impunity, one can highlight “the collective work and the appearance of foundations, such as Periodistas Sin Cadenas, which maintain the memory of the three live and that they do a strong journalism and with good security conditions for the journalistic teams ”.

According to Unesco reports, in Ecuador there have been six deaths of communication workers in the exercise of their profession: the journalistic team of the newspaper The Comerio, Fausto Valdiviezo (assassinated in April 2013) and José León and Saúl Suárez (assassinated in 2006). (I)