Ecuador: Five human heads found hanging on a beach

On Sunday morning, police investigators conducted “the verification of five anatomical pieces (heads) that were hanging” on a promenade in front of the beach, near a hotel, details a police report to which AFP had access.

Images that circulated on social networks show the five heads tied with ropes to two wooden posts, facing the sea and in the middle of the sand.

There you see a sign written on a wooden board that reads: “The people are ours. Keep going out to rob fishermen and keep asking for vaccine cards, we already have them identified.”.

In Ecuador it is known as “vaccines” to the extortions that criminal groups charge merchants and residents of popular areas, in exchange for supposed protection.

The authorities are investigating the case and have not yet found those responsible. The complete bodies of the victims have not been found either.

The president of Ecuador, Daniel Noboa defends a tough policy against organized crime, in the style of his Salvadoran counterpart Nayib Bukele and declared the country in internal armed conflict against the mafias.

But the violence does not stop.

Armed confrontations and massacres are common in the country, which closed 2025 with its record homicide rate of about 52 per 100,000 inhabitants, according to the Organized Crime Observatory.

Ecuador It is a crucial node in the international drug trafficking chain due to its strategic location, as an exit door for Colombian and Peruvian cocaine that is sold on the black markets of Europa and USA.

In recent years he became the most coveted runner in the world. Peaceful.