Despite government claims of suicide, anti-corruption crusader Monika Silva was murdered, autopsy shows
By Dan Collyns and Jakub Krupa
Anti-corruption activist Monika Silva Koniuszek, who investigated the real estate deal of a powerful coastal mayor and the family business of President Daniel Noboa was murdered, an autopsy showed Friday. The 41-year-old Polish expat and single mother of two young daughters was found on the floor of her home with a noose around her neck on June 8.
Monika Silva Koniuszek
The postmortem report determined that the cause of death was a blow to the head and strangulation.
A day after her death, and before autopsy results had been released, Ecuador’s Interior Minister John Reimberg said that the initial hypothesis was that Silva’s death was a suicide: “The necessary evidence to reach that conclusion was found at the scene,” he told local media, adding that Silva suffered from depression.
“Based on the forensic reports, we now know 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 had spent the last decade denouncing environmental crimes and corruption on her website and on social media, working closely with local journalists. She stated in her social media profiles: “You don’t need to be born in Ecuador to love it and defend what is right.”
“Monika was the bravest person I have ever met,” said Beth Pitts, 47, a British author and fellow activist who collaborated with her in local campaigns. “She was often a lone voice, publicly and vociferously denouncing corruption and environmental crimes when everyone else was too afraid to speak out,” said Pitts, who has lived in Ecuador for 13 years and lived near Silva in a neighbouring village. “Beyond her activism, she was a dedicated single mother and a wonderful friend. Even when she was receiving death threats, she would still take the time to ask how I was doing and offer her support,” she added.
Colleagues say Silva had begun to investigate Noboa Trading Company, the fruit conglomerate belonging to the family of the president. They said she had been pursuing allegations that several tons of cocaine had been seized in Noboa Trading banana containers, but high-ranking Ecuadorian judicial officials were stalling the investigation.
Shortly before she was killed, she told friends that she had delivered a dossier of allegations to the U.S. embassy in Quito. She had also investigated allegations that politically connected figures in Santa Elena, including the mayor, were involved in a land-trafficking ring.
Friends say Silva was facing judicial harassment and explicit death threats, allegedly linked to the same crime networks that assassinated a fellow activist, local journalist Robinson del Pezo, in November 2025.
Silva’s death made headlines in her native Poland, with scepticism over early reports suggesting she took her own life. Her friend, Joanna Cuper, told the Polish broadcaster TVP Info that the activist had claimed she was “followed and observed”. “None of us believe she killed herself,” she said. “She said that the cartels had put a price on her head. Three years ago, her then husband took the children to Brazil because she was receiving threats that she and her children would be murdered,” Cuper added.
The Polish prosecutor’s office confirmed last week that it had requested mutual legal assistance from the Ecuadorian authorities probing her death, and suggested it would want to be closely involved in the investigation. The Polish embassy in neighbouring Peru said it hoped “the competent authorities will conduct a swift, thorough, independent and transparent investigation” to “clarify the circumstances of the case and ensure accountability”. It pointedly added: “The embassy of the Republic of Poland emphasises the importance of protecting human rights defenders, journalists, social activists and all individuals engaging in civic life.”
The community in Montañita created a shrine to Silva, with photos and flowers, and kept candles burning for several days. Local street artists painted a mural, with neighbours renaming a street after her.
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Credit: The Guardian
