Journalists seek asylum in Canada after threats to life in Ecuador

Monica Velazquez (L) and Andersson Boscan (R), September 10, 2024.

September 11, 2024 Time: 10:47 AM

Threats against them increased after a corruption network led by the brother-in-law of former President Lasso came to light.

Journalists Andersson Boscan and Monica Velasquez, who work for the digital media outlet La Posta, have requested asylum in Canada. They claim their lives are in danger in Ecuador due to death threats and plans to kill them, orchestrated by “corrupt police officers.”

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In a video shared on social media on Tuesday, Boscan and Velasquez said they had been under surveillance by police, which was recorded in an intelligence report with instructions on where to kill them, which was found in the hands of drug traffickers.

“The General Intelligence Service of the police kept an eye on our family, from the school our daughters attend, the routine with which we left our home, the routes and streets we took to get to work, the times we traveled, to the clear and precise instructions about where we were to be killed,” said Boscan, director of La Posta.

“We submitted this as an official document to the Public Prosecutor’s Office, with the official state seals, but the Public Prosecutor’s Office refused to investigate which corrupt agents were following our family and planning an attack,” he added, recalling that the threats against them have continued for five years, forcing them to live in almost complete isolation and rarely leave their home.

They have now decided to leave the country because their daughters “deserve a real life, far away from the constant paranoia about the possible murder of their parents, in a country where sometimes you have to be more wary of the institutions that are supposed to protect you than of the criminals themselves.”

Both journalists expressed their gratitude for the support of various international organizations and institutions, such as Reporters Without Borders (RSF), the International Women’s Media Foundation (IWMF) and the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Boscan and Velasquez had previously been outside Ecuador between July and October 2023, after they had also reported an imminent risk of attack shortly before the murder of journalist and presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio.

Threats against them increased after the publication of the ‘Gran Padrino’ case, which exposed an alleged corruption scandal in state-owned companies led by businessman Danilo Carrera, the brother-in-law of then-President Guillermo Lasso (2021-2023).

The revelation of this affair led to Lasso’s abrupt resignation when the opposition pushed for an impeachment vote. Before the National Assembly could hold the final vote to impeach him, Lasso opted to call extraordinary general elections.

The Gran Padrino case also involved drug trafficking, as La Posta revealed that there was a network of companies linked to one of the people involved in the fraud: a close friend of Carrera, who did business with the leader of the Albanian mafia in Ecuador, who was responsible for shipping large quantities of cocaine to Europe.

teleSUR/JF Sources: EFE – La Posta

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