80 murders in three days: the massacres once again frighten Ecuador

Five young people under the age of 21 were shot and killed last Friday in the small fishing community of Puerto López, which is located 500 kilometers from Quito, the Ecuadorian capital. The next day, in the Guasmo neighborhood of Guayaquil, ten other men were shot down while playing a volleyball game. The deaths are again counted in dozens in Ecuador, where 80 violent crimes were recorded in just three days.

The series of massacres that shook the country began in the early hours of Good Friday, when around twenty armed men violently entered the hotel where a group of six young people and five children were staying. They were tourists who wanted to have fun during the Easter holiday. A day before, they had rented a car and on two motorcycles they began the trip from Pedro Carbo, a town that is two hours from Puerto López. The subjects kidnapped the eleven, including the children, who were later abandoned in a nearby city. While the six young people were taken to some bushes and murdered. Only one of them survived.

“This armed group believed that they were members of another gang and that is why they killed them,” says a Police Intelligence source. The criminal gang that operates in the sector is from Los Choneros and it is the third case that has occurred in less than a year. They shoot down any unknown person who arrives in Puerto López and whom they consider suspicious. Thus they reign in the midst of abandonment and impunity. In this case, the Police have managed to arrest two people involved in the crime from whom weapons, ammunition and mobile phones were confiscated.

Puerto López is a town on the seashore, known for having the port where thousands of tourists embark each year to see the humpback whales that swim from the south of the continent to that coast to mate. The majority of the population was dedicated to fishing and tourism, but many have abandoned the networks due to the extortion and threats to which they are permanently subjected. “We saw these kids grow up and now they are the ones who have us in this terrifying situation,” says a resident of Puerto López.

Young people detained after a police and army operation in the Socio Vivienda neighborhood of Guayaquil, on March 26. Santiago Arcos (Reuters)

The second massacre occurred on Saturday night in the Guasmo Sur neighborhood of Guayaquil. As is common on a weekend, the residents closed the street, installed a net in the middle, attached to the windows of the houses, and delimited the court to start the volleyball game. While the teams played the game, the children ran around, and those who were paying attention to the game applauded and encouraged the players. A game of volleyball or soccer in the street motivates people to leave the confinement of their homes, it gives them a feeling of security, that nothing could happen. That was the atmosphere until two gunmen with AK47 rifles of Russian origin arrived, and fired in bursts at everyone. Ten men died and another nine are injured, struggling between life and death in hospitals.

In the midst of these two massacres, another 65 people were murdered in the country in three days. The killings were concentrated in the provinces of Manabí and Guayas, where 45 people died. “We cannot talk about failed containment because violent deaths increased in one weekend,” said Mónica Palencia, Government Minister. But the spike in violence began two weeks ago, after an apparent containment following military operations, which were carried out due to a state of emergency that allowed the Armed Forces to be on the streets. The measure was taken after 201 crimes were recorded in the first seven days of 2024. It was the most violent week of the year.

The president of Ecuador, Daniel Noboa, reacted this Monday with the same speech as always. “We will never give in to crime and organized crime,” he said at the closing of a tunnel built by the prisoners of the Turi prison, in Cuenca, which was used to hide weapons and ammunition. “They can continue to threaten me every day, I am not going to stop, likewise those threats will be returned with forceful actions,” he continued, but he did not say what those forceful actions will be, which they only call Plan Fénix.

Minister Palencia referred to a new program in which they intend to work jointly with the municipalities, which face delayed payments from the Government and who in many cases do not have the means to finance basic works in their cities. The announcement of the new program occurs when the state of emergency is about to end. The military must return to the barracks on April 8 and the streets will once again be the responsibility of the Police.

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