An Air Force Colonel, fighting drug trafficking, was assassinated in Ecuador amid rising violence and a declared state of emergency.
Colonel Porfirio Cedeno headed to a military event when hitmen stopped him on the way and fired over twenty shots. Santiago Tuston, a police officer, shared this information.
The truck stopped, and Cedeno never got to Manta from Guayaquil. He led an air force special team that fought drug dealing in their country.
Police found many bullet casings; however, they saw no other clues about the killers, who likely drove off. The military offers money for the arrest.
Gian Carlo Loffredo, the Defense Minister, wants a big fight opposing crime, to end terror, and to stop the “miserable people.”
Ecuador suffers from much crime now, caused by drug gangs. Homicides went up a lot in recent years; in 2023, it was 47 per 100,000 people. President Noboa declared an emergency and started a military crackdown. The rate dropped to 38 in 2024.
Ecuador probably has 20 criminal gangs that traffic, kidnap, and extort. They connect to Peru and Colombia, countries which produce lots of cocaine.
Big cartels often use Ecuador’s ports to ship medicine to the US and Europe. This increases violence and danger. The presidency released a statement saying a war exists within Ecuador.