Escalation of violence: Ecuador records three massacres in two days

At least 18 people were murdered between Friday and Saturday in three massacres recorded in Manabí and Guayaquil, Ecuador, while the state of emergency imposed by the Government in January remains in force, in an attempt to reduce homicides at the hands of narcoterrorists.

The last massacre was recorded on Saturday night in Guasmo Sur, Guayaquil, where armed individuals aboard a vehicle opened fire on a group of people and fled, nine lost their lives and 10 were injured.

The attack occurred during a volleyball game, two blocks from the Guasmo Sur Hospital, according to local media. Two victims died at the scene and seven more in other health centers.

The Attorney General’s Office of Ecuador opened the investigation to find the perpetrators of the crimes. Until yesterday, the National Police did not report any arrests.

Ecuador is under the yoke of criminal gangs that fight over drug trafficking routes with blood and fire.

The cycle of violence has caused an increase in the homicide rate, which went from 6 per 100,000 inhabitants in 2018 to a record 43 in 2023.

Tourist massacre

Two people were captured on Saturday morning in the case of five tourists kidnapped, interrogated and murdered on a beach in Puerto López, Santa Elena, in the province of Manabí, by drug traffickers who apparently confused them with members of a rival gang.

Six Ecuadorian adults and five children, who had arrived at the Ayampe resort on Thursday afternoon, were kidnapped when about twenty armed people broke into their hotel.

The victims were subjected to “interrogation” and the bodies of only five adults were found with gunshot wounds on a nearby road, said local police commander Richard Vaca. The rest of the victims survived.

The tourists had no ties to criminal organizations, but the attackers “apparently confused these subjects as their adversaries in (…) the micro-trafficking dispute [distribución y comercialización de droga] in the sector,” he added.

In the capture operation, they seized automatic rifles, pistols, explosives and ammunition.

President Daniel Noboa expressed his “solidarity with the families” of the victims on Saturday on his X account.

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