Overview
- Police confirmed finding the severed heads on Sunday at Puerto López, a Pacific beach town popular with tourists.
- Images posted online show five heads tied to two wooden posts beside a board warning those who rob fishermen and demand protection payments known locally as “Impfkarten.”
- Authorities previously reported that at least nine people, including a baby, were killed at the same beach in December in violence linked to local gang clashes.
- Ecuador’s position between Colombia and Peru has made it a key drug transit route, and emergency measures and troop deployments ordered by President Daniel Noboa have yet to stem the bloodshed.
- Analysts cite a power struggle between Los Lobos and a weakened Los Choneros as a driver of violence, noting a 2025 murder rate near 52 per 100,000 after Los Choneros’ leader was extradited to the U.S. in July 2025.