Guadalupe Larriva

Guadalupe Larriva González (born July 28, 1956 in Cuenca , † January 24, 2007 in Manta ) was an Ecuadorian politician .

Larriva has been a teacher at the secondary school Colegio Manuel Córdova Galarza in her hometown since 1980 and at the same time professor at the Universidad de Cuenca since 1981 , where she taught physical and political geography and ecology , among other things . She was a member of the governing body of the largest, left-wing teachers' union in the country, Unión Nacional de Ecuadores (UNE). Since her youth she was a member of the Socialist Party of Ecuador , for which she was a member of parliament in the 2003-2006 legislature. In October 2005 she took over the chairmanship of her party. Under her leadership, the Socialist Party supported Rafael Correa's successful presidential candidacy . She was considered an admirer of Hugo Chavez and Michelle Bachelets .

After Correa took office, Larriva was appointed Minister of Defense on January 15, 2007 . She was the first woman to hold this post.

Larriva died nine days after her appointment in a helicopter crash not far from the Ecuadorian air force base in Manta, part of which is leased to the US armed forces. Just two days earlier, Larriva had announced that Ecuador would not renew its contract with the United States to station troops at the base in Manta, a decision that was one of Correa's key election issues. Larriva's 17-year-old daughter and five army officers, including the helicopter pilots, also died in the crash.

An international commission of inquiry should clarify the circumstances of the accident. On March 2, 2007, Commission spokesman Leonardo Barreiro presented the Ecuadorian President with the final report on the accident. This rules out sabotage and technical failure and indicates that human error was responsible for the collision. The two Gazelle helicopters therefore had to pause in flight because a civilian aircraft had take-off permission at the Manta airport, which is part of the base . The helicopter, in which the commander of the helicopter group and two pilots were on board, hit the helicopter in which Larriva, her daughter and two pilots were. Both pilots flew with night vision equipment for the first time. The final report was published on May 22, 2007. In it the described course of the accident was confirmed and the opening of court proceedings against seven lower and middle ranks of the military for violations of safety regulations and service instructions was announced.

Larriva had been widowed since 1998 and had two other daughters. On January 30, 2007, Correa appointed the university professor Lorena Escudero, also from Cuenca, to be Larriva's successor.

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1. ↑ Cristóbal Peñafiel, Una educadora de izquierda a la cabeza de las Fuerzas Armadas ( Memento of the original of March 13, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , El Universo (Guayaquil), January 9, 2007, pp. 2A / 3A; Guadalupe Larriva, una socialista admiradora de Hugo Chávez , El Mundo , January 25, 2007. 
2. ^ Ecuador defense minister killed in air crash , msnbc.com , January 24, 2007; Reuters: Ecuador's Defense Minister Killed in Air Collision , nytimes.com , Jan. 24, 2007.
3. ↑ Manta: La base, arma de lucha y entorno de su muerte ( Memento of the original from September 28, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , El Diario (Portoviejo), January 25, 2007.  
4. ↑ Caso Larriva: indagación revela varias fallas de los pilotos  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , El Comercio , March 3rd 2007.  
5. ↑ Siete "responsables" en el caso Larriva ( Memento of the original of September 27, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , HOY online , May 22, 2007. See also Familia Larriva cuestiona el informe del accidente ( Memento of the original from May 25, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , HOY online, May 25, 2007