Ecuadorian gangsters kidnapped, interrogated and killed five tourists, apparently thinking they were members of a rival drug gang, officials said this weekend, while another attack by gunmen killed nine people on the coast of the country.
About 20 attackers stormed a hotel in the southern Ecuador resort town of Ayampe on Friday and kidnapped six adults and a child, local police commander Richard Vaca said.
The kidnapped tourists, all Ecuadorians, were questioned and hours later the bodies of five adults were found with gunshot wounds on a road, he said.
The attackers “apparently mistook them for adversaries” from a rival drug gang, Vaca said.
President Daniel Noboa said one person had been arrested so far in the case and the government was tracking down the rest of the attackers.
The killings “remind us that the battle continues,” Noboa said on social media, accompanied by a video of a handcuffed and bent over man being forcibly taken away by an armed police officer.
“Narcoterrorism and its allies are looking for spaces to scare us, but they will not succeed,” Noboa said.
Meanwhile, gunmen attacked a group of people in the coastal city of Guayaquil, Ecuador, killing nine people and injuring ten others, police said on Sunday.
The attack took place around 7 p.m. local time on Saturday in the southern neighborhood of Guasmo. According to police, the armed group entered a pedestrian street in a gray Chevrolet Spark, where a group of people were playing sports. The gunmen got out of the vehicle and shot people.
“So far the toll is nine dead and ten injured,” police Colonel Ramiro Arequipa told reporters on Sunday.
GÉRARDO MÉNOSCAL/AFP via Getty Images
No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.
Ecuador was once considered a bastion of peace in Latin America, but in recent years violent attacks have increased.
Noboa declared a state of emergency in January, which includes permanent operations by a security force made up of police and soldiers. Additionally, a five-hour curfew is in effect in high-incidence areas like Guayaquil.
That month, Noboa also gave orders to “neutralize” criminal gangs after gunmen stormed and opened fire in a television studio and bandits threatened to randomly execute civilians and security forces.
Since then, the army has been deployed in the streets and took control of the country’s prisons, where a series of gang riots in recent years have left hundreds dead.
Violence has continued since the state of emergency.
Just last week, the 27-year-old mayor of a small town – also in Manabi province – was killed along with her aide. Brigitte Garcia and Jairo Loor were found inside a vehicle with gunshot wounds.
One of Garcia’s last posts on social networkswhere she presents herself as the youngest mayor in the country, spoke of a new project aimed at bringing water to her municipality.
“Together we are building a better future for our community,” she said. wrote.
On Thursday, a riot in a Guayaquil prison under military and police control left three inmates dead and four injured.
Ecuador exceeded a rate of 40 violent deaths per 100,000 inhabitants at the end of 2023, one of the highest in the region, according to police.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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