Quito (Ecuador), 24 February (H.S.) Armed assailants disguised in military uniforms stormed a rural village property in western Ecuador's Manabí province on Monday, executing at least seven people in a brazen dawn attack linked to rampant drug violence.

Ecuadorian police reported the early morning incursion at a seaside estate near Jama, where a dozen impostor soldiers riddled victims—including three adult brothers and a 16-year-old boy—with bullets. This latest bloodbath underscores Manabí's transformation into a cocaine trafficking nexus, fueling turf wars among Mexican and Colombian cartels.

Despite President Daniel Noboa entrusting anti-drug operations to the armed forces and declaring states of emergency across seven provinces, homicides have quintupled since 2020, hitting a record 50 per 100,000 residents last year. Over 9,000 murders scarred 2025, concentrated in coastal hotspots like Guayas, Manabí, and Esmeraldas, as Quito—UNESCO-listed at 2,850 meters in the Andes—girds against spillover chaos.

---------------

Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar