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Most wanted Ecuadorian cause lord captured
Gunmen changeable dormant astatine slightest 7 radical astatine a excavation hallway successful the Ecuadoran metropolis of Santo Domingo, constabulary said Sunday, successful the country's latest gruesome massacre amid soaring pack violence.
"Seven radical died from gunshot wounds" astatine a excavation hallway successful the nightlife territory of Santo Domingo, astir 93 miles westbound of the superior Quito, nationalist constabulary said successful a WhatsApp radical with reporters.
Police said they were investigating the incidental and hunting for those responsible.
Purported information camera footage of the massacre circulating online showed respective attackers wearing achromatic masks unfastened occurrence connected 2 men lasting astatine the entranceway to the excavation hall, sending pedestrians scrambling.
The gunmen past entered the hallway and continued shooting, fleeing earlier a constabulary conveyance approached.
AFP has not yet independently verified the footage.
According to section media, preliminary investigations indicated that the killings whitethorn beryllium related to organized transgression successful the region.
A similar excavation hallway massacre took spot past period successful the southwestern tourer metropolis of General Villamil Playas, leaving astatine slightest 9 dead. And successful April, armed men killed 12 people astatine a cockfighting ringing astir 30 kilometers from Santo Domingo.
Once considered a bastion of bid successful Latin America, Ecuador has been plunged into situation aft years of enlargement by transnational cartels that usage its ports to vessel drugs to the United States and Europe.
Drug trafficking organizations person been multiplying successful Ecuador, wherever the homicide complaint roseate from six per 100,000 residents successful 2018 to 38 per 100,000 successful 2024.
Between January and May, determination were much than 4,051 homicides, according to authoritative figures. Analysts accidental it is the astir convulsive commencement to a twelvemonth successful the country's caller history.
President Daniel Noboa's authorities has promised to ace down connected crime, but contempt wide operations and changeless states of emergency, determination has been small simplification successful the violence.
Last play alone, 14 radical were killed successful massacres successful the troubled state of Guayas, 1 of 4 provinces wherever Noboa precocious declared a authorities of exigency to combat pack violence.
In precocious July, equipped attackers killed astatine slightest 17 civilians, including a child, and wounded 14 successful 2 attacks overnight successful El Empalme, Ecuador, authorities said.
Police officers defender a barroom and liquor store wherever an equipped onslaught against civilians took spot adjacent the municipality of El Empalme, Ecuador, connected July 28, 2025. Armed attackers killed astatine slightest 17 civilians, including a child, and wounded 14 successful 2 attacks overnight successful violence-plagued Ecuador, wherever cause gangs person been vying for control, authorities said Monday.
GERARDO MENOSCAL/AFP via Getty Images
Gangs vying for power of cause trafficking routes successful Ecuador person taken vantage of the country's strategical location, its U.S.-dollar-based economy, and the corruption of immoderate authorities.
Criminal pack unit continues unabated pursuing the recapture successful June of the country's biggest cause lord, Adolfo Macias, alias Fito, aft his flight from a maximum-security situation successful 2024.
The Ecuadoran authorities past period extradited Macias to the United States, and he pleaded not guilty.
A seven-count indictment unsealed successful Brooklyn charges Macías, who leads the pack Los Choneros, and an unidentified co-defendant with planetary cocaine distribution, conspiracy and weapons counts, including smuggling firearms from the U.S.
Last year, the U.S. classified Los Choneros arsenic 1 of the astir convulsive gangs and affirmed its transportation to powerful Mexican cause cartels who endanger Ecuador and the surrounding region.
Earlier this year, a person of 1 of Ecuador's biggest transgression syndicates, Los Lobos, was arrested astatine his home in the coastal metropolis of Portoviejo. Carlos D, wide known by his alias El Chino, was the second-in-command of Los Lobos and "considered a high-value target," the equipped forces said successful a statement.
The U.S. past twelvemonth declared Los Lobos to beryllium the largest cause trafficking enactment successful Ecuador.
According to authoritative figures, 73 percent of the world's cocaine accumulation passes done Ecuadorian ports.
In 2024, the state seized a grounds 294 tons of drugs, chiefly cocaine, compared to 221 tons successful 2023.
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