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Ecuador's first female defense minister killed in helicopter crash
AFP
QUITO
Petroleumworld.com 01 26 06A tearful President Rafael Correa Thursday promised an international investigation into the helicopter crash that killed Ecuador's first woman Defense Minister Guadalupe Larriva, 10 days after she was sworn into office.
The government said there was no sign of an attack in the accident which happened when two helicopters collided near the Portoviejo air base on the Pacific coast late Wednesday. Larriva was killed along with her daughter and five army officers.
"It was an unfortunate accident, but for the good of all there'll be a thorough investigation by an international commission, totally neutral ... so no doubt is left as to what happened," Correa said.
He said France and Chile would take part in the probe. The United States and Colombia offered to help and sent condolences, as did the governments of Mexico, Peru and Venezuela.
Larriva, who also headed the Socialist Party-Broad Front and called herself "a revolutionary, a woman of the true left," had been sworn in along with Correa on January 15, becoming the first woman to serve as her country's defense minister.
Officials said the crash happened as the two helicopters, one of them carrying Larriva, 50, and her 17-year-old daughter, were conducting a night military exercise near the Manta air base."There are no survivors," Interior Minister Gustavo Larrea told reporters.
Correa traveled to the air base at the port city of Manta, 275 kilometers (170 miles) southwest of Quito, near the scene of the accident.
The Manta fire chief told AFP that the rescue team so far had recovered the bodies of two men and a young woman, while the military also said it was treating the crash as a likely mid-air collision between the two helicopters.
Larriva's Socialist Party, however, asked the government not to rule out the possibility the accident was caused by an attack. "In the investigation, no possibility should be left out," said former party leader Enrique Ayala.
Party vice president Gustavo Ayala demanded that his party be part of the investigation.
Ecuadoran human rights activists demanded that any investigation include independent experts in addition to the military.
Permanent Human Rights Assembly president Alexis Ponce questioned security measures surrounding Larriva's travels: "Its unusual for the military to carry out night-time military exercises with civilians, let alone with the defense minister and her daughter."
Correa said France has agreed to send two technicians from the Eurocop factory, where the two French Gacela helicopters were manufactured.
In Santiago, the office of Chilean President Michelle Bachelet, also a Socialist, confirmed that it would send six Chilean Air Force investigators to help in the probe of the crash.
Wiping tears from his eyes as he stood next to Larriva's coffin, Correa vowed to continue his socialist revolution to reform Ecuador.
"Today, my dear minister, comrade, patriot and friend," he said, "before your remains, the remains of your daughter and of the other compatriots who perished, we renew our vow never to take one step back, and together with the people, with your inspiration, to reclaim our homeland."
Larriva openly opposed the presence of US troops in the country and US anti-drug operations. Correa himself has pledged not to renew the US military presence at the Manta air base in 2009.
The United States uses Manta as its main outpost in its fight against drug trafficking in the Pacific region.
Larriva, a widow for eight years and the mother of three children, was a university professor of history and geography.
She also had been a deputy for the southern province of Azuay and a member of the Commission on Human Rights, Justice and Prison Policy of the Latin American Parliament.
AFP 25 2142 GMT 01 07
Copyright© 1999 AFP. All Rights Reserved.
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