QUITO, June 22 (Xinhua) -- An Ecuadorian delegation travelled to Colombia on Friday to identify the bodies of the two journalists and a driver of the El Comercio daily, who were kidnapped and murdered along the border.
The team is made up of officials from Ecuador's police, intelligence agency and ministry of justice, as well as relatives of the victims.
They travelled to Colombia to confirm, through DNA tests, whether the bodies handed over to Colombian authorities on Thursday are those of the victims.
The trip is taking place after Colombia's President Juan Manuel Santos and prosecutor Jenny Ortiz announced that bodies corresponding to the trio had been found.
The group, made up of journalist Javier Ortega (32), photographer Paul Rivas (45) and driver Efrain Segarra (60), was kidnapped on March 26 in a rural part of the locality of Mataje, in the northern province of Esmeraldas on the border with Colombia.
The team was carrying out a journalistic report on insecurity in the area when they were captured by the "Oliver Sinisterra" front, made up of dissidents from the former Revolutionary Armed Forces (FARC) guerrilla, led by Walter Artizala, alias "Guacho."
On April 13, Ecuadorian President Lenin Moreno confirmed the three men had been killed but that the location of their bodies was unknown.
On Thursday night, the Ecuadorian prosecutor in charge of the case, Wilson Toainga, told a press conference that DNA tests would be carried out on the bodies before repatriating them.
According to Toainga, the identification could take between 24 and 48 hours.
In terms of punishing the murders, Ecuador and Colombia have put up a reward of 230,000 U.S. dollars for information leading to the capture of Guacho, while carrying out joint military actions to find him.
Guacho and 21 other members of his group are wanted by Ecuador for charges of organized crime and terrorism.
The Oliver Sinisterra front is also blamed for the death of four Ecuadorian soldiers after a range of bomb attacks in Esmeraldas, and for the kidnapping of a couple in April, who remain in captivity.
The FARC signed a peace deal with the government in 2016 and has since renounced violence and transformed into a political party. But a small number of soldiers refused to give up their criminal activities.
