After being missing for four days, the priest is found dead in Ecuador

Four days after 53-year-old Father Enrique Fabián Arcos went missing in Ecuador, authorities found his body on November 3 in a landfill about 30 kilometers north of Ambato, where he lived.

The murder was preceded by a robbery at Arcos’ house. Closed-circuit TV footage of the area showed the priest was accompanied by three other men that day. Police confirmed on November 5 that they had fully identified the perpetrators.

According to local press reports, the perpetrators entered the priest’s house without forcing the doors open. They tied up his 93-year-old mother, Rebeca Sevilla, and took some of her belongings, including jewelry.

They then tried to withdraw money from the priest’s bank accounts, police said, and when that didn’t work, they decided to kill Arcos and left the house with him. His mother managed to free herself and asked for help shortly afterwards.

Arcos’ body was found in a disturbing condition, partially eaten by dogs and rodents – something that required additional forensic efforts, prompting authorities to send it to Ecuador’s capital, Quito. His car was found at another location, burned to ashes.

One of the key elements in the police investigation is that one of the men seen with the priest that day was a foreigner who is said to know Arcos.

According to Father Fabricio Dávila, the spokesman for the Diocese of Ambato, “foreigner” in Ecuador is used as a euphemism for Venezuelan, given the Andean country’s huge community of immigrants and refugees, formed by people who have left Venezuela in recent years.

“Our Venezuelan brothers and sisters live many times in very difficult conditions and are already confronted with terrible xenophobia,” he told OSV News.

Arcos regularly worked in the parish of San Roque of Huachi Chico, where countless Venezuelans receive assistance, especially food parcels. He probably met one of the perpetrators there.

“Father Arcos suffered a neurological problem years ago and had problems walking and moving his right arm. That is why he was not a pastor (responsible for a parish). But he dedicated himself to the community in San Roque and to the indigenous people.” Davila said. He said Arcos spoke Kichwa, an indigenous Quechua language in Ecuador, and therefore had a strong bond with the indigenous groups he helped.

Dávila said Arcos was always seen as a “very virtuous man of faith, someone who was very loving with people and was very joyful.”

“He lived in great frugality. At the same time he was extremely generous,” he described.

The priests’ mother, and witness to his kidnapping, is a well-known Catholic leader in the community, Dávila said. He and the local bishop were the ones who brought her the news of her son’s death, which she received “with deep sadness and fear.”

“We just hope that investigators will clarify all the facts and discover what happened. And that the perpetrators are tried according to the laws of Ecuador,” Dávila said.

In his opinion, Arcos died because of the unjust exploitation of his “most beautiful virtue”: generosity.

“His kindness and solidarity made him trust those people,” he concluded.

Ecuador has suffered an unprecedented crisis of violence in recent years, with drug cartels and armed gangs, with the South American country’s murder rate reaching 47.2 murders per 100,000 people in 2023.