President Lenin Moreno confirmed the deaths when the deadline ended after the kidnappers failed to show the press workers were still alive. The president promised a "devastating" military response.
Image: picture-alliance/AP/D. Ochoa
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Two journalists and their driver were abducted on March 26 while covering a story on drug-related violence along Ecuador's border with Colombia. Ecuador's President had given the captors a 12-hour deadline to provide proof of life for the trio who worked for the El Comercio newspaper.
Ecuador has blamed the abductions on the Oliver Sinisterra Front rebel group, which authorities say is led by a former rebel from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), a Marxist group which waged more than 50 years of armed conflict with the Colombian government. The journalists' deaths are a setback to a 2016 peace deal under which FARC rebels officially handed over their weapons.
Latin America's longest armed conflict comes to an end
The Colombian government has reached a historic truce with FARC, ending over half a century of violence with the leftist group. Latin America's longest conflict claimed at least 220,000 lives.
Image: Reuters/A. Meneghini
How the insurgency started
In 1948, the assassination of populist leader Jorge Eliecer Gaitan sparked political chaos in Colombia known as "the violence." Tens of thousands died and peasant groups joined with communists to arm themselves. Later in 1964, a military attack on the insurgency's main encampment led to the creation of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia or FARC.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo
What the rebels wanted
FARC's political ideology has never been well defined. Initially, it sought to weaken the oligarchy's grip on power. The rebels also wanted land reforms in a country where more than 5 million people have been forcibly displaced, mostly by far-right militias. However, the group lost popularity as it turned to kidnapping and illegal gold mining for funds.
Image: Reuters
How the US got involved
To help the Colombian security forces fight against the insurgency and to counter drug-trafficking, the US began sending billions of dollars under Plan Colombia. The US State Department classifies the group as a terrorist organization and its leaders face US indictments.
Image: Reuters/J. Vizcaino
The human cost of the conflict
Latin America's longest-running armed conflict is responsible for the death an estimated 220,000 people, while millions of Colombians have been displaced within their country. According to Bogota’s estimates, there are 7.6 million direct and indirect victims of the conflict. The country has more landmine victims than any country except for Afghanistan.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/C. Escobar Mora
Peace accord after decades of failed attempts
Peace talks between FARC and the government collapsed in the mid 1980s after at least 3,000 allies of FARC's political wing Patriotic Union Party were killed at the hands of right-wing paramilitaries. Efforts fell short again in 2002 after the rebels hijacked an airliner to kidnap a senator. The latest round of talks started in 2012 in Havana and culminated on August 24, 2016 with a deal.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/E. Abramovich
50 years of conflict
"We have reached a final, integral and definitive agreement" to end the conflict and build a stable, lasting peace, the government of President Juan Manuel Santos and the left-wing Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia said in a joint statement. In June, the negotiators had already announced a cease-fire agreement and a blueprint for how the estimated 7,000 to 8,000 fighters will demobilize.
Image: Reuters/A. Meneghini
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Government condemnation
Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos denounced the murders as "a deplorable act." Costa Rica expressed its "absolute condemnation" of the bloodshed. Spain denounced it as a "vile and criminal act."
The International Committee of the Red Cross said it had received approval from the two governments and members of Guacho's group to organize the recovery of the bodies of reporter Javier Ortega, 32, photographer Paul Rivas, 45, and their driver Efrain Segarra, 60.
Ecuador's president, Lenin Moreno, gives the abductors of the press team 12 hours to present proof of lifeImage: picture-alliance/NurPhoto
What happens next?
Moreno rushed back to Ecuador from a summit in Peru on Thursday night to deal with the crisis. He has already announced plans to deploy elite troops to the border area where the journalists were last seen. Last month Moreno announced 12,000 soldiers and police officers would boost security along the border and work to combat drugs gangs. Santos has dispatched Colombia's top military advisers to Ecuador's capital Quito to assist with military planning, however no specific details of an operation have been released.
