At the least 9 folks had been shot useless Saturday whereas enjoying pool in a vacationer metropolis in southwestern Ecuador, the nation’s prosecutor’s workplace mentioned.
A bunch of armed males opened fireplace on a number of folks at a bar in a working-class neighborhood of Basic Villamil Playas, a coastal metropolis within the southern Guayas province and vacation spot for native vacationers.
The Ecuadorian prosecutor’s workplace mentioned on social media that “armed people entered the institution and shot at these current.”
Authorities mentioned they had been taking a look at safety digital camera footage and cellphone movies in an effort to determine suspects.
In a separate social media put up, the workplace posted a picture of officers on the scene, saying our bodies had been eliminated and ballistic proof retrieved from the scene.
Viral photos on social media confirmed at the least 9 bloodied our bodies mendacity on the ground round a number of pool tables.
Native media reviews mentioned the attackers had been armed with computerized rifles.
On the bar the place the bloodbath occurred, family members held two coffins Saturday evening. Bullet holes had been seen on the pool tables, in keeping with photos captured by an AFP reporter.
Police Colonel Jhanon Varela advised media that two folks had been injured within the assault and handled at a neighborhood hospital.
Authorities have solely been in a position to determine one physique on the scene.
“Sadly, when the police arrive, lots of these affected by this occasion are faraway from the scene by residents and relations,” Varela mentioned. “It’s presumed that there could also be extra victims.”
Guayas Prefect Marcela Aguinaga mentioned one of many victims was a coach at a provincial soccer college.
Aguinaga wrote on social media: “Violence… seeks to carry us to our knees, silence us, and accustom us to horror. However we won’t keep silent. Nor will we give up.”
Wave of violence in Ecuador
The capturing comes as Ecuador experiences its most violent begin to a yr in current historical past, in keeping with specialists.
Within the first 5 months of 2025, Ecuador recorded 4,051 homicides, in keeping with official figures.
Drug trafficking organizations have been multiplying in Ecuador, the place the murder price rose from six per 100,000 residents in 2018 to 38 per 100,000 in 2024.
Following the recapture in June of the nation’s largest drug lord, Adolfo Macias, alias Fito, after his escape from a maximum-security jail in 2024, legal gang violence continues unabated.
The Ecuadoran authorities on Sunday extradited Macias to the US. A seven-count indictment unsealed in Brooklyn fees Macías and an unidentified co-defendant with worldwide cocaine distribution, conspiracy and weapons counts, together with smuggling firearms from the U.S.
A letter filed by the US Division of Justice on Sunday mentioned Macias was as a consequence of seem in a federal court docket on Monday “for an arraignment on the Superseding Indictment on this case.”
This week, within the western province of Manabi, the stronghold of Fito and his gang Los Choneros, at the least 20 folks had been killed in lethal violence in a number of cities, together with Manta, the place Fito was recaptured.
Final yr, the U.S. labeled Los Choneros as one of the vital violent gangs and affirmed its connection to highly effective Mexican drug cartels who threaten Ecuador and the encircling area.
Saturday afternoon, Inside Minister John Reimberg introduced elevated safety in Manta, one in every of Ecuador’s primary fishing ports, with 2,500 cops “deployed at strategic factors.”
As soon as thought of a bastion of peace in Latin America, Ecuador has been plunged into disaster after years of enlargement by transnational cartels that use its ports to ship medicine to the US and Europe.
Earlier this yr, a pacesetter of one in every of Ecuador’s largest crime syndicates, Los Lobos, was arrested at his dwelling within the coastal metropolis of Portoviejo. Carlos D, extensively recognized by his alias El Chino, was the second-in-command of Los Lobos and “thought of a high-value goal,” the armed forces mentioned in a press release.
The U.S. final yr declared Los Lobos to be the biggest drug trafficking group in Ecuador.
