Three years after the double murder of the Mendocinians in Montañita, these are the questions

Three years later

double crime of mendocinas

in Montañita,

Ecuador

the justice of this country is preparing to open the third inquiry. This is one of the most important cases in Latin America in recent years.

The deaths of 21-year-old María José Coni and 22-year-old Marina Menegazzo left several issues unresolved, with the three defendants sentenced to a maximum of 40 years in prison.

Segundo Mina Ponce (34), aka "El Negro", was convicted as the main perpetrator and Aurelio Eduardo Rodríguez (39), aka "El Rojo", and José Luis Pérez Castro (31) as the authors. In any case, it was learned that five people in total had participated in the event after discovering two other crime scene genetics profiles. It remains to be seen who they correspond to.

THE NATION He met with María Dolores Coloma Pazmiño, the prosecutor who led the first and second investigations, who is now working for the National Unit to Investigate Transnational Organized Crime (ibid.). UNIDOT). From Ecuador, the woman recalled all the work done and fought for Ecuadorian justice to achieve full clarification of the double crime. Along the way, some questions have arisen about the possibility that people in power have participated in the crime of violence.

"There are these DNA signs, I hope that someday they will come to a result, as I already have before my questions: who funded the defendants' defense? lawyers, former prosecutors, judges … I took the investigation and even in cbadation, they ratified the sentence, which shows that there was no 39 political interference, the evidence is strong and scientific.Here there was no information, "said the judicial officer.

Coloma Pazmiño revealed that he had opened an investigation in Italy, since Marina Menegazzo was also a citizen of that country. In fact, after the crime, his European Community pbadport was found. "Shortly after, in Italy, they requested international criminal badistance, I sent everything I had done, but I do not know the results, I hope that". it will be possible to know more about what happened.They waited, those whom the defendants protect, they did not deserve this bloody death, I proved that they had killed one after the other, but they were not obliged to go to this house.Why did they accept this inn when they were able to return to the home? ", the prosecutor was request.

In addition, the prosecutor discussed the upcoming opening of a third investigation. "I hope that someday we will see who else was the participants in this violent death, the DNA is there, it will take many years and if someone talks we will have to continue the investigation, "he said.

Last May, Gladys Steffany, mother of María José Coni, died and worked from the beginning to speed up the work of the investigation. The sisters of Cune ensure, as his mother argues, that there are people "from above" who participated in the bloody act. The two families continue today, with the latent pain, attentive to the case so that the truth of what happened is revealed and all those involved fall down.

Martina Cuneo, the youngest of Majo's sisters, said: "Three years after he left, almost a year without knowing how it will go, because for me, for my mother and for the rest of my family, it's not a problem. There were no culprits, I understood and understood every day more than if we remained silent, the state, prosecutors, corruption and even the mafia still hide the truth, I wonder: Ecuador, what did he spent with Majo and Marina on February 22, 2016 who did not return to your country? Montañita, what are you hiding? "

He added, "Nearly three years ago, there are things we did not know and the truth that I would not know about them." So I think that as it has happened, it happens to others, and that if we remain silent, the truth will not be revealed. "

Majo and Marina, two young university women from Mendoza, were last seen on the afternoon of February 22, 2016 in Montañita, before returning to Argentina, after a long trip with a group of friends returned a few days ago. Country.

According to the investigation, they were allegedly drugged and beaten in the house of one of the convicts, in a secluded area of ​​the sea. Cuneo was abused and she received a violent blow to the head. Menegazzo was stabbed. A few days later, the bodies were found, separated by 48 hours, in black plastic bags, in an open field, far from the recognized beach, where thousands of young people arrive each year and where there is a denominator common: parties and drugs.