Seven people were shot dead overnight from Saturday to Sunday in Duran, according to police, the third massacre this week in this southwestern Ecuadorian city dominated by criminal gangs.
The attack took place as the seven men were leaving a billiard room. Two vehicles approached, from which shots came.
The Latin King gang attacked the Chone Killer gang, and “seven people died”, Colonel Roberto Santamaría, police chief of the Duran district, told the press.
Traces of blood from the shooting, motivated by revenge according to Mr. Santamaría, still littered the street.
“It is not an isolated act. It is a succession of violent acts which began with the death of five members of a gang, which sought revenge with five others (deaths), and so on “, he explained.
Two other massacres had already taken place during the week in Duran: five deaths killed by armed men wearing military fatigues on Tuesday, and five more deaths the next day.
These massacres occur while a state of emergency has been declared in the province to deal with the increase in violence by drug trafficking groups.
The Latin Kings and the Chone Killers have a strong presence in Duran, a township of approximately 300,000 residents. Guayas, where the city is located, is one of six provinces in the country where a state of emergency has been declared. In some cities a seven-hour curfew has been declared.
The government says its measures helped reduce the number of homicides from 6,037 between January and October 2023 to 4,959 over the same period this year.
Violent deaths in Ecuador – now considered a drug trafficking hub – have soared in recent years. The homicide rate increased from 6 per 100,000 inhabitants in 2018 to 47 in 2023.
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