Rise in Violence: Gang Shootouts and Drug Wars Plague Ecuador’s Pacific Coast

2023-06-26 00:51:31

Eight people were killed Sunday on Ecuador’s Pacific coast in what appears to be the third shootout between rival gangs this month, police said.

Five other people were injured in the exchange of gunfire which broke out outside a nightclub in La Concordia, a city of 49,000 inhabitants located in the northwest of the country, police told media on a WhatsApp chat group.

The same day, other violent incidents left four dead in Quito according to the police, which specifies that three of the victims “would be linked to criminal groups”.

An attack in the Ecuadorian port of Guayaquil had already killed at least six people and injured eight last week, according to authorities in the city, one of the most affected by crime and drug trafficking.

Ecuador is facing an upsurge in violence as gangs fight for control of drug supply and distribution networks.

Clashes between drug gangs have also led to repeated massacres in the country’s prisons, with more than 420 inmates killed since February 2021.

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