A shooting at a nightclub in rural Ecuador resulted in the deaths of eight people, with three others injured, in the latest incident that authorities allege has broken out due to conflicts in the world of organized crime.
Why it Matters
Mass killings and high-profile violent incidents have plagued authorities and officials in Ecuador since 2023, when the country experienced unprecedented year of violence.
A total of 8,008 homicides – a rate of 47 per 100,000 inhabitants – were recorded that year, a sharp increase from the previous rate of 6.7 per 100,000 inhabitants recorded in 2020, according to the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants (USCRI).
Ecuador’s homicide rate now outpaces Mexico, El Salvador, and Honduras, making it the highest in South America, the USCRI reported earlier this year.
This wave of violence resulted in Executive Decree 111, which declared an “internal armed conflict” between 22 identified criminal groups operating in the country, which the country labeled “terrorists” in order to justify using military operations to try and neutralize the groups.
El Salvador, once nicknamed the “murder capital of the world,” similarly used its military in 2022 to apprehend thousands of people to drive down its crime rate. However, Ecuador has not seen the same success, and violence remains a rampant issue across the country.
What To Know
Authorities said that heavily armed suspects arrived at the club in Santa Lucia, in Guayas province, on motorcycles and in two other vehicles before they opened fire, resulting in eight deaths and injuring at least three people.
The victims in the most recent shooting were between 20 and 40 years old. Seven of the victims died at the club and an eighth died after being transported to a hospital.
This adds to the dozens of deaths that have occurred in similar shootings over recent months, with most of the attacks occurring in four of the country’s coastal provinces, all of which remain under a state of emergency: El Oro, Guayas, Manabí and Los Ríos.
Officials have reported that over 4,600 people have died in violent crimes this year – down from 7,000 killings in 2024 and just over 8,000 in 2024.
Authorities have not yet determined a motive, but they have speculated that it is linked to transnational drug cartels that have expanded their operations into the Pacific region. Authorities believe that rival criminal groups are vying for control of drug-trafficking routes in those regions.
What Happens Next
Investigations were ongoing into the nightclub shooting, and authorities had not announced arrests or identified responsible groups as of the latest reports.
This article contains reporting by The Associated Press.
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