Afro-Ecuadorians in a community are grieving after four Black boys were killed in December, allegedly following an encounter with the country’s military.
The four boys were last seen alive after being detained by air force personnel
Ismael Arroyo, 15, his 14-year-old brother Josué, Steven Medina, 11, and Nehemías Saúl Arboleda, 14, were from Guayaquil, Ecuador’s largest city. On Sunday, Dec. 8, after finishing a football game, the boys were allegedly forced into a military patrol car by members of the Ecuadorian Air Force, according to The Guardian and Black Agenda Report.
Two weeks after the boys’ disappearance, their parents sought answers from the government but received no information about what had happened to them. However, on Christmas Eve, four burned and dismembered bodies were found near a military base, close to where the boys had been picked up by air force personnel, The Guardian reported.
‘It has completely changed our lives’
DNA tests confirmed the remains were those of the Guayaquil Four, sending shockwaves through Ecuador’s predominantly Black communities and highlighting the country’s deep-rooted racism toward Black people.
Luís Arroyo, 36, father of Ismael and Josué, tearfully spoke out after their tragic deaths.
“We are shattered,” Arroyo said of losing his two sons, per The Guardian. “It has completely changed our lives.”
Hundreds of neighbors and activists joined the grieving parents as they held a chigualo (a funeral ritual) to pay their respects to the four young boys who lost their lives.
A woman holding an image depicting the four Ecuadorian teenagers apprehended by soldiers and found dead near a military base, attends a march one month after their apprehension in Guayaquil, Ecuador on January 8, 2025 | Photo by MARCOS PIN/AFP via Getty Images
A boy wearing a shirt with the picture of Nehemias Arboleda, one of the four Ecuadorian teenagers apprehended by soldiers and found dead near a military base, attends a march one month after their apprehension in Guayaquil, Ecuador on January 8, 2025. Photo by MARCOS PIN/AFP via Getty Images
Women wearing shirts with the picture of Nehemias Arboleda, one of the four Ecuadorian teenagers apprehended by soldiers and found dead near a military base, attend a march one month after their apprehension in Guayaquil, Ecuador on January 8, 2025 | Photo by MARCOS PIN/AFP via Getty Images
Relatives of the four Ecuadorian teenagers apprehended by soldiers and found dead near a military base, attend a march a month after their apprehension in Guayaquil, Ecuador on January 8, 2025. | Photo by MARCOS PIN/AFP via Getty Images
Luis Arroyo and Katy Bustos, parents of Ismael and Josue Arroyo, two of the four Ecuadorian teenagers apprehended by soldiers and found dead near a military base, attend an event a month after their apprehension in Guayaquil, Ecuador on January 8, 2025. | Photo by MARCOS PIN/AFP via Getty Images
Racism was a factor in the deaths of the Guayaquil Four
The boys lived in Las Malvinas, a predominantly Black and impoverished neighborhood in Guayaquil. According to Arroyo, skin color and origin were key factors in their deaths.
“We have endured all of this simply because we are Afro-Ecuadorians and live in Las Malvinas,” he said, per The Guardian.
According to the latest census report, Afro-Ecuadorians comprise only 4.8% of the country’s population. Despite this, they remain marginalized, especially under President Daniel Noboa’s leadership. According to The Guardian and the Minority Rights Group, he has implemented strict security policies targeting organized crime in the past year.
Systemic racism in predominantly Black communities
In response to the killings, the government declared a state of emergency and imposed a curfew in Guayaquil and other areas until March 3. Activists and critics argue that this action disproportionately targets Afro-Ecuadorian communities, perpetuating systemic racism, according to Black Agenda Report.
“In this Ecuador, where racism, inequality, and aporophobia, (fear, contempt, and rejection of people who are poor or disadvantaged) have intensified under the shelter of the State, Black lives continue to be ignored, and impunity grows at the same rate as the cynicism of those who have weaponized power to deteriorate our existence,” Juanita Frances Boone, Afro-Ecuadorian scholar and director of Mujeres de Asfalto, said in a statement obtained by the outlet.
Protestors perform a ceremony in a pacific way for the 4 children during the rally. Hundreds peacefully protested against the country’s violence after four children went missing on December 8, 2024, in Las Malvinas, Guayaquil, Ecuador. Steven (11), Nehemías (15), Josué (14), and Ismael (15) were reportedly intercepted by vehicles with people in military uniforms and taken to the Taura air base | Photo by Veronica Lombeida/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
Relatives and friends of siblings Josue and Ismael Arroyo, 14 and 15, respectively, two of the four minors who disappeared during a military operation while playing football, mourn during their burial at the Angel Maria Canals cemetery in Guayaquil, Ecuador, on January 1, 2025. | Photo by MARCOS PIN/AFP via Getty Images
Luis Arroyo (C), father of Josue and Ismael Arroyo, 14 and 15, respectively, two of the four minors who disappeared during a military operation while playing football, mourns during their burial at the Angel Maria Canals cemetery in Guayaquil, Ecuador, on January 1, 2025. The four Ecuadorian teenagers apprehended by soldiers and found dead near a military base were buried on Wednesday in the port of Guayaquil, amid outrage over the event that mourns the country, according to the government | Photo by MARCOS PIN/AFP via Getty Images
Football teammates of Ismael Arroyo, 15, mourn around his coffin during his wake and that of his brother Josue, 14, two of the four minors who had been missing for three weeks since disappearing during a military operation while playing football, in Guayaquil, Ecuador, on January 1, 2025. | Photo by MARCOS PIN/AFP via Getty Images
Relatives react after it was confirmed that the burned bodies found in Taura correspond to the four minors who went missing during a military operation outside the courthouse in Guayaquil, Ecuador, on December 31, 2024. | Photo by MARCOS PIN/AFP via Getty Images
People demonstrate against the disappearance of four minors who went missing during a military operation, outside the courthouse in Guayaquil, Ecuador, on December 31, 2024, during the arraignment hearing against 16 military personnel allegedly involved in the disappearance. | Photo by MARCOS PIN/AFP via Getty Images
The military responds to the boys’ initial disappearance
The military initially denied any involvement in the boys’ disappearance but later confirmed that Air Force personnel had detained them, The Guardian reported. They also claimed the boys were involved in a robbery, though they provided no evidence to support that assertion.
Sixteen soldiers have since been imprisoned as prosecutors launched an investigation into the case. However, the grieving parents believe more should have been done to uncover the truth behind the boys’ deaths.
“The fact that they’re in prison is not enough,” Ronny Medina, 39, the father of 11-year-old Steven, said per The Guardian. “We want to know what they did and why they did it to our children.”
