Ecuadorian police reported Tuesday that seven charred bodies were found in a rural area in the southern Andes region of the country and that they are investigating whether the incident is related to disputes between criminal gangs.
In a report, they specified that the victims were found inside a house in the southern Andean area of Dos Bocas, bound with wire and executed with gunshots. This area is located near the town of Cañar, 262 kilometers south of the capital.
The report emphasized that agents are investigating the crime as the result of a suspected dispute between criminal groups, given that the bodies were found on a property allegedly belonging to Carlos Suástegui, identified as the leader of the Los Águilas criminal gang, who was murdered in June as he was about to leave the Guayaquil airport.
The identities of the victims and the possible date of their deaths have not been released.
The Eagles are among the 22 organizations that the Ecuadorian government designated as “terrorist” in 2024.
Ecuador has been facing a wave of crime for the past five years due to the expansion of local gangs vying for control of drug trafficking routes and territories. These gangs are linked to transnational drug cartels, particularly those from Colombia and Mexico, according to authorities.
