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Ecuador's president in firing line over fate of four missing boys
The Guardian
|December 28, 2024
The disappearance of four youngsters in Ecuador after they came into contact with the armed forces is posing a major challenge to President Daniel Noboa's "war on drugs".
The four boys – all black, aged from 11 to 15 and residents of a poor area in the country's largest city, Guayaquil – were returning from a football game near their homes on 8 December when 16 air force personnel detained them.
They were allegedly freed several miles away but have not been seen since. On Christmas Eve, four incinerated bodies were found in the area. Experts are trying to determine whether the bodies are those of the boys.
Known as Los Cuatro de Guayaquil (the Guayaquil Four), the case has caused national uproar and sparked protests nationwide.
This story is from the December 28, 2024 edition of The Guardian.
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