Rubén Cherres, a key player in investigations in Ecuador, dies

( Spanish) — Rubén Cherres Faggioni was found dead in the town of Punta Blanca, Santa Elena province, the Ecuadorian Police reported this Friday. Cherres had been a fugitive from justice since the beginning of the year.

In the place, a house located two hours from Guayaquil, three other bodies were found. The Police reported that they began investigations into these four deaths that, they say, occurred in a violent event.

The Minister of the Interior, Juan Zapata, indicated that the Police deployed technical and operational actions to find those responsible and the causes of the event.

Rubén Cherres was wanted by the Police to respond in an investigation that the Prosecutor’s Office undertook in January called “Case Encuentro”, on the existence of an alleged criminal structure for the appointment of positions and public contracts in exchange for money in state companies. In addition, the Prosecutor’s Office requested in February that an investigation be reopened into Cherres’ alleged links to drug trafficking.

The Prosecutor’s Office had issued an arrest warrant against him on January 21.

Five days earlier, on January 16, President Lasso sent a letter to Attorney General Diana Salazar, in which he informed that he had instructed the Police and the Ministry of the Interior to begin the search for businessman Rubén Cherres and Hernán Luque. , a former government official who led the management of public companies in Ecuador.

According to the president, Cherres and Luque had made large requests for money both for themselves and supposedly for third parties, in exchange for appointments and contracts in public sector companies. Luque continues to be a fugitive from justice and according to the Minister of the Interior, Juan Zapata, he registered an exit from Ecuador and entered Argentina on January 9. is trying to locate the defense of Hernán Luque and Rubén Cherres.

President Lasso, whose political trial was endorsed this week by the Constitutional Court, rejects the existence of a structure or network of corruption in his government.
On March 14, the head of state asked the Prosecutor’s Office to investigate his brother-in-law Danilo Carrera for his business and personal relationship with Rubén Cherres. In a statement from the presidency, the Communications Secretariat said that President Lasso “does not overlap anyone.”

Carrera’s defense, in a letter sent to the media on January 9, denied that he was being linked as the head of a corruption structure in public companies and denied having taken steps to obtain illegitimate benefits for himself or for third parties. . Carrera has not been prosecuted by justice so far, according to the Prosecutor’s Office, which keeps the investigation confidential.