Colombia Identifies Bodies Of Murdered El Comercio Staff

Colombian officials have confirmed that three bodies found Thursday are those of the El Comercio newspaper staff from Ecuador murdered by the Oliver Sinisterra Front in April, EFE reports, as relatives demand better treatment for the victims. 

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"Yesterday I called the chancellor (from Ecuador) to give him the news that we had found the bodies of the murdered journalists; they are in Cali today in transit to return them to their relatives," Minister of Foreign Affairs Maria Angela Holguin told reporters in Paraguachon.

The Ecuadorean government and families of the victims have yet to confirm the identities. Relatives of the victims arrived Friday in Cali to meet with Colombian forensics experts. 

In a statement released on social media, the relatives said: "We reiterate that if the identity of our family members is confirmed, this path towards truth and justice has just begun. We won't rest until responsibilities have been established in every level.

"We demand that the experts reports comply with due process and that we are informed in a detailed way about how the body rescue operative was carried out and what the custody chain was.

"We demand that both countries show coordination. It's unheard of that Twitter is the communication channel of two governments in such a delicate matter. Paul, Javier and Efrain deserve better than a tweet."

After two and a half months of searching, the remains of journalist Javier Ortega, photojournalist Paul Ricas and their driver Efrain Segarra were found Thursday by the Colombian Special Forces and members of the Gaula police in southern Colombia.

"The murderers of these people buried the bodies in such a way that they would never be found," said Colombian Defense Minister Luis Carlos Villegas, explaining that the bodies were hidden deep in the Tumaco jungles and had to be exhumed.

The minister said it was thanks to their canine unit and dedicated agents that they were able to find the graves at all.

The Oliver Sinisterra Front is an armed group operating along the Colombia-Ecuador border and headed by Walter Patricio Artizala Vernaza, also known as 'El Guacho.'

In March, members of the group kidnapped three staff from Ecuador's El Comercio newspaper and later executed them when the Ecuadorean government failed to meet their demands. Neither the state nor the Red Cross managed to recover the bodies.

Several members of the Oliver Sinisterra Front have been arrested or killed by Colombian authorities, but 'El Guacho' remains at large.