Polish anti-corruption activist Monika Silva (née Koniuszek)who also studied in the Czech Republic, found dead in Ecuador. She died aged just 41 just a few days after she drew attention to dubious land machinations and complained of death threats. While the local interior minister initially spoke of suicide, her relatives, the Polish government and the European Union reject this scenario and push for a thorough investigation of the entire case, he writes.
The life story of the Polish native was extremely varied. Although she came from modest backgrounds, she developed into an exceptional student at University College London. During her studies, she fell in love with Czech culture and language, while she also completed study stays at universities in Brno and Prague.
After years of traveling around the world, she finally landed in Ecuador, where she is started a family with her Brazilian husband (they had two daughters aged 5 and 10) and together they ran a boarding house in the coastal town of Montañita.
Instead of a peaceful family life, Monika decided to actively fight against injustice in her surroundings. During the pandemic, she organized collections for the poorest and later led a foundation aimed at improving local infrastructure. However, she attracted the greatest attention and anger of the powerful by her unrelenting fight against corruption. Just before her death, she publicly criticized the illegal construction of a hotel on plots that the mayor should have non-transparently transferred to private investors instead of being used to support housing.
The circumstances of her death have been surrounded by inconsistencies from the beginning. Ecuador’s Interior Minister John Reimberg suggested that it was a suicide caused by depression, which a possible “farewell” report was supposed to confirm. However, family and friends vehemently deny this – according to them, the message addressed to her new partner was just an ordinary wish for a nice day. Moreover, at the time of her death, the activist was heating food on the stove, and the preliminary results of the autopsy, according to local media, showed that before her death she received a blow to the head.
The case, which was preceded by the murders of two of her anti-corruption colleagues in recent months, has already grown into an international scandal, writes . The Polish General Prosecutor’s Office has announced that it wants to participate in the investigation, and the EU delegation in Ecuador has also intervened in the matter. “We call on the relevant authorities to conduct a swift, thorough, independent and transparent investigation to clarify the circumstances and ensure that the perpetrators are punished,” the delegation said in its official statement.
The anti-corruption fighter herself was well aware of the huge risks of her actions, but she refused to withdraw. Several months before her death, she reported to the authorities that she was being chased, threatened, and local cartels even offered a reward for her in order to drive her back to Europe. “However, they will never achieve their goal. I am infinitely grateful and ready to defend what is beautiful and fair at all costs, as long as my health allows,” she said on social networks at the time.
