an armed attack leaves ten dead in Guayaquil, against a backdrop of drug trafficking

Ecuador lives under a state of exception due to the violence of drug trafficking. Ten people were killed on Saturday April 29 in an armed attack in the port city of Guayaquil, the country’s economic capital, local police announced on Sunday. The attack occurred around midnight in a mechanical workshop where the victims had gathered to watch a football match, according to witnesses interviewed by AFP. “Motorcycles came and shot everyone who was there,” one said. Authorities have so far reported no arrests in connection with the attack.

Guayaquil is one of the cities most affected by drug trafficking and violence in the country, due to its position on the Pacific coast, strategic for the transport of drugs to the United States and the Europe.

The homicide rate has skyrocketed

In prisons across the country, inmate clashes have claimed more than 420 lives since 2021, while outside prisons the homicide rate nearly doubled between 2021 and 2022, from 14 to 25 per 100,000. residents, officials said.

Two weeks ago, in the province of Esmeraldas, in the northwest, on the border with Colombia, around 30 armed men opened fire on residents in the port of Guayaquil, killing nine fishermen. According to the authorities, the victims were under the protection of a criminal group, and were allegedly attacked by a rival group.