80 murders in three days: Ecuador once again scared of massacre

Five youths under the age of 21 were shot dead last Friday in the small fishing community of Puerto Lopez, located 500 kilometers from the Ecuadorian capital Quito. The next day, in the Guayaquil neighborhood of Guayaquil, another 10 people were shot dead while playing a volleyball game. Deaths were again counted in the dozens in Ecuador, where 80 violent crimes were recorded in just three days.

The string of massacres that shocked the country began in the early hours of Good Friday, when around twenty armed men violently entered the hotel where a group of six youths and five children were staying. They were tourists who wanted to have fun during the Easter holidays. The day before, they had rented a car and on two motorcycles they began the journey from Pedro Carbo, two hours away from Puerto López. The men abducted 11 people, including children, who were later released in a nearby town. They took six youths to some bushes and shot them. Only one of them survived.

“This armed group believed that they were members of another gang and that is why they killed them,” says the police intelligence source. This is the third case in less than a year from Los Choneros, a criminal gang operating in the area. They shoot any unknown person who comes to Puerto Lopez and whom they consider suspicious. Thus they rule between abandonment and impunity. In this case, the police has succeeded in arresting two people from whom arms, ammunition and mobile phones have been seized.

Puerto López is a beach town, known for the port where thousands of tourists come every year to see the humpback whales that swim to mate on that coast from the south of the continent. Most of the population was dedicated to fishing and tourism, but many have left the networks due to the extortion and threats to which they are permanently subject. “We have watched these children grow up and now they are the ones trapping us in this terrible situation,” says a resident of Puerto Lopez.

The second massacre took place Saturday night in the Guayaquil area of ​​Guayaquil. As is common on weekends, residents closed the road, set up nets in the middle, attached windows to houses’ windows, and demarcated courts to begin the volleyball game. While the teams were playing the game, children were running here and there and people who were paying attention to the game clapped and encouraged the players. Playing volleyball or soccer on the street makes people get out of the confines of their homes, it gives them a feeling of security, that nothing can happen. Such was the atmosphere until two gunmen with AK47 rifles of Russian origin reached there and opened fire on everyone. 10 people died and nine others were injured, who are fighting for life in hospitals.

Between these two massacres, 65 more people were murdered in the country in three days. The killings were concentrated in Manabí and Guayas provinces, where 45 people were killed. “We cannot talk about failed prevention because violent deaths increased in one weekend,” said government minister Monica Palencia. But the increase in violence began two weeks ago, following an apparent containment of military operations that were carried out due to a state of emergency that allowed armed forces to take to the streets. The move was taken after 201 crimes were registered in the first seven days of 2024. It was the most violent week of the year.

Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa responded with the same speech as usual this Monday. “We will never bow to crime and organized crime,” he said at the completion of a tunnel built by inmates of the Turi prison in Cuenca, which was used to hide weapons and ammunition. He further said, “They can continue to threaten me every day, I am not going to stop, that is how those threats will be responded to with coercive actions,” but he did not specify what those coercive actions would be, which he could only say Plan Fenix ​​says.

Minister Palencia mentioned a new program in which they intend to work jointly with municipalities, which face the problem of late payments from the government and which in many cases have the power to finance basic works in their cities. Don’t have the means to do it. The new program is announced as the state of emergency is about to end. The army will have to return to barracks on April 8 and the roads will once again be the responsibility of the police.

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