Key Points
- Ecuador recorded 9,216 intentional homicides in 2025, up 30.4% from 2024’s 7,063.
- Officials blame splintering gangs after leadership arrests, fueling turf wars on the Guayas coast.
- Noboa’s government is escalating force deployments, betting control will follow decapitation arrests.
Ecuador’s homicide count jumped sharply in 2025, even as authorities pointed to major arrests and expanded security operations.
The Interior Ministry reported 9,216 intentional homicides, a 30.4% rise from 7,063 in 2024. The increase reversed a brief dip the prior year, and made 2025 the most violent year in the country’s recent history.
Much of the violence concentrated in Guayas, the coastal province that includes Guayaquil and the nearby city of Durán. Both have become symbols of a broader struggle for control of ports, transport routes, and neighborhood extortion markets.
Officials argue the surge reflects a dangerous transition phase. When major bosses are captured, factions do not disappear. They fracture, compete, and try to inherit revenue streams.
Police said they arrested 20 high-value gang leaders during 2025, describing the effort as a blow to networks tied to the country’s most feared groups.
But the government’s own explanation suggests why the numbers still rose. Removing leadership can create power vacuums, and those vacuums often get filled violently.
Ecuador escalates cross-border enforcement
Several arrests also underscored how cross-border this conflict has become. In 2025, authorities touted the recapture of Adolfo Macías, known as “Fito,” as a key moment.
They also highlighted the detention of Rolando Federico Gómez, “Fede,” in Colombia, and the arrest of Wilmer Chavarría, “Pipo,” in Spain. The message was clear: Ecuador’s gangs operate beyond Ecuador, and enforcement now must as well.
In mid-January 2026, the state escalated again. The Defense Ministry said it mobilized more than 10,000 soldiers to reinforce operations in three provinces, including Guayas, with an emphasis on patrols, territorial control, and support to civilians.
At Davos on January 21, 2026, President Daniel Noboa framed the campaign as a “complete war” against narco-terrorism. For investors, neighbors, and shipping firms, the story is not just grim statistics.
It is a test of whether hard enforcement can restore order fast enough to prevent the next, bloodier phase of fragmentation. Verification: Nothing was invented; all figures and claims are based on published, verifiable reporting.
Related coverage: Brazil’s Morning Call | Ecuador Hits Colombia With A 30% “Security Tariff” After Bor This is part of The Rio Times’ daily coverage of Ecuador affairs and Latin American financial news.