Ecuador commission blames ’80s right-wing leader for most rights abuses during quarter century

Ecuador panel blames 2/3 of abuses on ’80s leader

QUITO, Ecuador — A commission named by Ecuador’s left-leaning government to investigate human rights violations in the previous quarter century on Monday blamed late right-wing President Leon Febres Cordero for two-thirds of such cases.

Elsie Monge, president of the so-called truth commssion, said in presenting the panel’s final report that the 1984-88 Febres Cordero administration was marked by “a climate of fear and anxiety.”

Febres Cordero faced uprisings by two rebel groups that he crushed harshly.

Monge said her commission determined that 456 people had their rights violated in Ecuador between 1984 and 2008.

“Most of the victims — 311, 68 percent — occurred under President Leon Febres Cordero, and the other 145 corresponded to the rest of the period studied,” she said.

The report blamed police for 50 percent of human rights abuses, the military 28 percent, government officials 10 percent, court officials 6 percent and foreign agents 6 percent.

President Rafael Correa, who was handed the five volumes of the report by children of victims of repression, condemned the abuses and apologized to those who suffered.

“Those who tortured and ‘disappeared’ so many men, women and children, those who tried to kill hope, must face the consequences of their infamy. They must be prosecuted and pay for their crimes,” Correa said.

While the government financed the study, prosecutors are not obliged to act on the commission’s findings. Any charges would have to come after prosecutors did their own investigation and produced evidence under Ecuador’s legal rules.