PEDRO RESTREPO, SYMBOL OF THE STRUGGLE AGAINST TORTURE AND FORCED DISAPPEARANCES IN ECUADOR, PASSED AWAY

We hereby share an unofficial translation of a statement published by the Front to Defend the Struggles of the People of Ecuador (FDLP-EC).

Pedro Restrepo, father of the youths kidnapped by the National Police under fabricated accusations of belonging to an armed organization, has passed away. His children were arrested, tortured in the SIC-Pichincha prisons [Translator’s note: Service of Criminal Investigation, part of the repressive forces], murdered. So far their bodies remain missing.

Pedro Restrepo’s tireless struggle became a symbol against torture and forced disappearances in Ecuador, marking a historical example on the defense of the human rights.

The Restrepo case is emblematic, but not unique. Other disappearances, such as the one of the revolutionary poet Gustavo Garzón and of Álvaro Nazareno who disappeared from a bed in a public hospital, as well as of the thousands of cases of disappeared people hidden by the old bureaucratic-big landlord State, show that forced disappearance has been a resource of the repressive apparatuses to consolidate a State system based on the dictatorship of the big bourgeoisie and big landlords.

Today a man passed away, a man who, since the disappearance of his children, dedicated his life to struggling to find the remains of his children, to clarify the facts and demand justice so that the guilty pay for their crimes.

The Restrepo case is a clear example of how the State defends itself and organizes its entire bureaucracy structure to protect the butchers of the people. Pedro Restrepo, with his tenacity, bravery and dedication, became a reference in the struggle for justice and truth.

The Front to Defend the Struggles of the People of Ecuador expresses its deepest condolences to the family Restrepo and, above all, to our people, who has lost one of their most distinguished defenders of human rights and of the dignity of the disappeared.