Activist who probed Ecuador president’s family business found murdered

Monika Silva Koniuszek, a 41-year-old Polish anti-corruption activist, was found dead in her Montañita home on 8 June. The single mother of two girls, aged four and nine, was discovered on the floor with a noose around her neck. Ecuador’s interior minister, John Reimberg, initially said the hypothesis was suicide: “The necessary evidence to reach that conclusion was found at the scene.” A postmortem in Guayaquil later found the cause of death was a blow to the head and strangulation.

“Based on the forensic reports, we are certain that this was a violent death; therefore, the alleged suggestion that it was a suicide falls apart,” said attorney Lita Martínez, director of the Ecuadorian Centre for the Promotion and Action of Women. Silva Koniuszek had spent the past decade denouncing environmental crimes and corruption, working with local journalists and speaking out against land grabbing and environmental damage.

Ecuador, Montañita

monika silva, polish activist, montañita, ecuador, murder, strangulation, guayaquil, anti-corruption, environmental crimes, land grabbing