Ecuador Army Kills Five Armed Men in Amazon Raid on Illegal Gold Mining Gangs
SECURITY · ECUADOR
Key Facts
- —The country Ecuador uses the US dollar. Since January 2024 an “internal armed conflict” decree has let the army pursue major gangs as armed groups.
- —What happened Ecuador army soldiers killed five armed men in Orellana province, in the Amazon, early on 2 October 2026, the Defence Ministry said. The army and ministry called them “terrorists”.
- —Who is involved The ministry says the dead belonged to Los Lobos, Ecuador’s largest gang, and a faction of Comandos de la Frontera, a Colombian group founded by former FARC rebels in 2017.
- —What it means for you No new restrictions on travel or business were announced as of 3 October. The government says cutting gold income weakens groups that extort miners in the Amazon.
- —Still open The names of the dead, and any review of the shooting by prosecutors, had not been made public as of 3 October 2026.
The Ecuador army killed five armed men in the Amazon province of Orellana early on Friday, 2 October, the Defence Ministry said. The army and the ministry described the dead as “terrorists” who financed themselves with illegal gold.
Defence Minister Gian Carlo Loffredo posted images of some of the five dead men on social media, Europa Press reported via Caretas. He said they belonged to a “criminal alliance” between Ecuador’s Los Lobos gang and Colombia’s Comandos de la Frontera.
What the Ecuador army says happened
According to the ministry’s account, reported by Primicias, soldiers were patrolling the Guayusa sector of Alto Punino when armed men arrived by vehicle. The ministry says the men tried to ambush the patrol, and five were killed in the response.
Troops seized three 5.56 mm rifles, a tactical vest, ammunition and other equipment, Primicias reported. None of the published accounts mentioned casualties among the soldiers. The army said troops detained one other man after the clash and named the faction as the Bloque Central de la Montaña, El Universo reported.
Loffredo said intelligence work had located the group. “The terrorists are dead, but the promise is alive: prison or hell,” he wrote, according to Europa Press.
Why gold matters to these groups
Loffredo said the alliance meant to “finance their criminal activities with illegal gold”. Infobae’s Colombia desk reported that the groups extorted owners and operators of mining machinery in the area.
The International Crisis Group, a conflict research body, says the alliance gives both groups a share of Pacific cocaine exports. It also protects illegal gold mining inside Ecuador, according to the analysis cited by Primicias.
Illegal mining clears forest and leaves mercury and other heavy metals in rivers, Infobae noted. Record international gold prices have made unlicensed digging more lucrative.
A wider Ecuador army push against mining gangs
The raid follows seven simultaneous operations in Azuay, Carchi, Imbabura and Morona Santiago provinces. The ministry said on 30 September that those raids cost criminal groups about US$1.83 million (Ecuador Illegal Mining Raids Cost Gangs US$1.8 Million).
Days earlier, Ecuadorian and US troops killed Carlos Germán Muñoz Jara, alias Charlie, in coastal Manabí province, Europa Press reported. Authorities linked him to Mexico’s Jalisco New Generation Cartel (Alias Charlie: Ecuador Media Name Man Killed in Manabí Army Operation).
The government blames Comandos de la Frontera for an Amazon ambush that killed 11 soldiers in May 2025. In Colombia, the group’s leader Giovanny Andrés Rojas, alias Araña, was recently extradited to the United States, Europa Press reported.
The case for the raid, and the questions
For the government, the deaths cut into the armed strength of groups that live on gold, extortion and drug routes. Loffredo presented the result as a direct hit on their financing.
The account so far comes from one side. As of 3 October, the Ecuador army and the ministry had not named the dead or shown evidence of gang membership.
The “terrorist” label follows President Daniel Noboa’s January 2024 decree declaring an internal armed conflict. That framing lets security forces treat listed gangs as armed opponents rather than ordinary criminal suspects.
What Is Not Yet Known
It is not known who the five men were, or whether any relatives dispute the army’s account. Neither the Attorney General’s Office nor an independent body had commented publicly on the shooting by 3 October.
It is also unclear how much the Orellana cell earned from gold, or whether more arrests will follow. The ministry gave no figure for the alliance’s income.
Sources: Caretas (Europa Press), 3 October 2026; Primicias, 2 October 2026; Infobae Colombia, 2 October 2026; El Universo, 2 October 2026; Infobae (Europa Press), 30 September 2026; Ecuador Ministry of Defence statements as reported by these outlets.
This article was produced by The Rio Times’ automated newsroom system. How we use AI · Report an error · Editorial responsibility: Matthias Camenzind, Editor-in-Chief