rights were re-affirmed, signaling protection of human rights as a more important principle than non-intervention. His stance on human-rights led him to clash with fellow Latin American leaders: in one instance at a summit in Colombia, El Salvador’s José Napoleón Duarte (US-backed dictator who came to power with the coup that set off the Salvadoran Civil War) mocked Roldós for being young and inexperienced. Roldós answered: “I may be inexperienced, but my government perches on a mountain of popular votes, while yours is perched on a mountain of corpses.” This policy was questioned by American conservatives, who considered it an excuse to justify Soviet meddling in the region, especially in Central America. The United States condemned the "Roldós doctrine", as they did that of Panamanian Omar Torrijos, who also died in a plane crash several months later. Following the 1980 U.S. presidential elections appointing Ronald Reagan, bilateral relations with the USA became strained; Roldós declined to attend Reagan's January 1981 inauguration on these grounds. His foreign policy initiatives also attracted the Sandinista government of Nicaragua and with the Frente Democrático in El Salvador, which opposed the military regime in that country. Death On Sunday, 24 May 1981 a Beechcraft Super King Air carrying the president and his entourage to a military ceremony in honor of the fallen in the short war with Peru crashed into Huairapungo Hill, near the town of Guachanamá, in the Celica Canton of Loja Province. The crash, at 2360 meters over sea level (7800 ft.), left no survivors. Killed along with the president were First Lady Martha Bucaram, the Minister of Defense Marco Subía Martinez and his wife, two aide-de-camps, a flight attendant and both pilots. The bodies were reportedly burned beyond recognition. Investigation and irregularities The controversy about the cause of the crash began immediately when the Accident Investigation Committee (Junta Investigadora de Accidentes, JIA) of the Ecuadorian Air Force attributed the crash to navigational pilot error. There were also rumors that the Colombian M-19 leftist guerrilla was involved in the crash, but these accounts were dispelled by authorities. Arosemena inquiry (first investigation) A parliamentary commission was formed months later, led by then-MP and former President Otto Arosemena, following pressure from the families of the victims and political groups allied with the president. It found contradictions and inconsistencies in the JIA report, but could not reach definitive conclusions especially since the aircraft that was purchased