Violence once again plunges Ecuador into mourning. Seven people were shot dead in an attack in the Guayaquil region (southwest), the epicenter of crime in the country, police announced on Saturday.
The bodies with gunshot wounds of seven men, including two minors, were found in Nobol, in the province of Guayas, about forty kilometers from Guayaquil, police said. Two of the killed had criminal records.
Several hours to locate all the bodies
The massacre, motivated by revenge according to the local press citing police sources, took place during the night from Friday to Saturday and the police took several hours to locate all the bodies.
Killings are increasingly frequent in Ecuador, where the homicide rate rose from 6 per 100,000 inhabitants in 2018 to 43 per 100,000 in 2023. Located between Colombia and Peru – the world’s two main producers of cocaine – the country has become a logistics center for shipping drugs to the United States and Europe.