Conversation with Pedro Restrepo
The conversation "Pedro Restrepo, human rights and the influence of the media in the time of former President León Febres-Cordero" took place on April 4 in the Multiple Use Room of the University of Azuay.
Pedro Retrepo is one of the best-known human rights activists in Ecuador. Their fight began on January 8 of 1988, a day after their children - Santiago, from 17 years, and Andrés from 14 - were illegally detained by members of the Criminal Investigation Service of Pichincha (SIC-P), special unit of police.
The conversation started with an analysis of the movie '' Con mi corazón en Yambo '', directed by his daughter María Fernanda Restrepo. A film of documentary genre that was born from the experiences of María Fernanda with her brothers and ends with the reappearance of the case twenty years later.
'' A documentary that tells the story of my family from the eyes of my daughter who is a filmmaker, as well as a journalist. A film that has no fiction, everything is lived. You can even make a complete observation of the experiences with material never seen before about the case, '' commented Restrepo.
As a second point, he reviewed all his struggles. In front of a packed auditorium he told how it is to go out on the streets for 31 years until he became a human rights activist.
'' The challenge to know the truth began with the investigation. Four days after the disappearance of my children, I already had sure clues that the police were involved. The case became a state crime, but everything was very unequal, we were a small group against all state power, "he explained.
In a chronological way, he told how his children were kidnapped to take them for the first time to the Criminal Investigation Service where they were tortured.
'' From March of the 89 every Wednesday we went to the Plaza de la Independencia with posters asking that the truth be known. On the streets we made the first accusations with proper names. The media finally managed to get interested in a family that was left without their two children. "
Due to some letters that the Restrepo family sent to the media, public opinion began to be interested. This led the State to create a national commission before which ex-Hugo Spain confessed its part. Thanks to that, it was possible to declare the police as guilty of the facts.
Before an audience of students from the Faculty of Legal Sciences and the School of Communication, he narrated how it was to live within a government where the police were untouchable and the media were controlled by a president he called a fascist and who was not forgive the disappearance of their children.
