'Four teenagers missing' shaking Ecuador's presidential election...the circumstances of military involvement

Criticism of the government is mounting over the disappearance of four teenagers in Ecuador, ahead of the presidential election in February next year.

Amid circumstantial evidence that a large number of soldiers were involved in the incident, observers say it will affect the re-election bid of the president, who was using the military for security reasons.Ecuador's local media reported on the 8th that four teenagers were missing while returning from a soccer game in Guayaquil, Ecuador's largest city,



They were from the slums, and their last whereabouts were confirmed three weeks ago 40 kilometers away from their homes, and the families of the missing confirmed the circumstances taken by the soldiers, but the military denied the contents.

Ecuador's Defense Ministry later acknowledged that 16 soldiers were involved in the incident through an investigation and opened an investigation into those involved.

The soldiers took them near the military base because "the children robbed a woman's stuff," but prosecutors concluded there was no evidence of the children's robbery."Although the military claims to have released the children, burned bodies have been found around the unit," said Eluniverso, a local Ecuadorian journalist in

, and authorities are conducting genetic testing of the bodies.

The case initially received little attention, but it emerged as a national issue because of President Daniel Novoah's reversal of his position on possible military intervention.

"It is difficult to recognize national responsibility," Novoa said at the beginning of the incident, covering the military and saying days later that "there will be no indulgence, no matter who is involved."

The president's change of attitude provoked public anger dissatisfied with the current government, leading to protests denouncing the president and the military authorities there.

Since taking office in November last year, President Novo Boa, who is 37 years old and the youngest incumbent leader in the world, has deployed a large number of soldiers to the city center in an executive order aimed at strengthening security.

Novoa, who was elected in a by-election-style presidential election, is seeking re-election in February next year, but local media said the incident could come as a major challenge.