At the very least 9 individuals have been shot lifeless Saturday whereas taking part in pool in a vacationer metropolis in southwestern Ecuador, the nation’s prosecutor’s workplace mentioned.
A bunch of armed males opened hearth on a number of individuals 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 have been taking a look at safety digicam footage and mobile phone 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 photographs on social media confirmed a minimum of 9 bloodied our bodies mendacity on the ground round a number of pool tables.
Native media reviews mentioned the attackers have been armed with computerized rifles.
On the bar the place the bloodbath occurred, kinfolk held two coffins Saturday night time. Bullet holes have been seen on the pool tables, in accordance with photographs captured by an AFP reporter.
Police Colonel Jhanon Varela instructed media that two individuals have been injured within the assault and handled at a neighborhood hospital.
Authorities have solely been capable of determine one physique on the scene.
“Sadly, when the police arrive, a lot of these affected by this occasion are faraway from the scene by residents and members of the family,” 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 faculty.
Aguinaga wrote on social media: “Violence… seeks to convey us to our knees, silence us, and accustom us to horror. However we is not going to 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 latest historical past, in accordance with specialists.
Within the first 5 months of 2025, Ecuador recorded 4,051 homicides, in accordance with official figures.
Drug trafficking organizations have been multiplying in Ecuador, the place the murder charge 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, prison gang violence continues unabated.
The Ecuadoran authorities on Sunday extradited Macias to the USA. A seven-count indictment unsealed in Brooklyn expenses 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 because of seem in a federal courtroom 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, a minimum of 20 individuals have been killed in lethal violence in a number of cities, together with Manta, the place Fito was recaptured.
Final yr, the U.S. categorized Los Choneros as one of the 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, considered one of Ecuador’s principal 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 growth by transnational cartels that use its ports to ship medicine to the USA and Europe.
Earlier this yr, a pacesetter of considered one of Ecuador’s largest crime syndicates, Los Lobos, was arrested at his residence within the coastal metropolis of Portoviejo. Carlos D, extensively identified 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 an announcement.
The U.S. final yr declared Los Lobos to be the biggest drug trafficking group in Ecuador.
