Five severed human heads were found hanging from ropes on a beach in southwestern Ecuador on Sunday in a gruesome display linked to ongoing gang violence spreading across the country, reports said.
The killings came amid a wave of bloody violence linked to drug trafficking and organized crime, which has increased across Ecuador in recent years.
The Associated Press reported that the grim discovery underlines the tactics used by criminal groups vying for control of territory and smuggling routes, especially along the country’s coastline.
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Drug gangs are leaving five human heads on Ecuador’s beaches with a threatening message to fishermen, police said, as violence increases along the country’s coastal smuggling routes. (Kike Calvo/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
Police said the heads were found on a tourist beach in the small fishing port of Puerto Lopez, Manabi province.
The images shared by Ecuadorian media and on social media showed the severed heads tied with ropes to wooden stakes planted in the sand, while blood was visible at the scene.
A wooden sign next to the heads bore a threatening message, addressed to alleged extortionists targeting local fishermen.
The message warned those demanding so-called “vaccine card” protection payments commonly extorted by gangs that they had been identified, the report said.
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Members of the Marines detain a suspect during security operations in southern Guayaquil, Ecuador, on October 19, 2021. – Ecuador’s President Guillermo Lasso declared a state of emergency on October 19 in the country struggling with a wave of drug-related violence. (AFP via Getty Images)
Authorities said the demonstration was likely the result of a conflict between criminal groups operating in the area.
Drug trafficking networks with ties to transnational cartels are operating along Ecuador’s coast and have used fishermen and their small boats to transport illicit shipments, local police said.
President Daniel Noboa launched an armed campaign against gangs and declared a state of emergency in several provinces, including Manabi, deploying the military to support police operations.
Despite his efforts, violence has continued to escalate, with police increasing patrols and surveillance in Puerto Lopez after recent massacres in the province, according to the Associated Press.
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Ecuador’s President Daniel Noboa addresses his supporters after early returns showed him in the lead in the second round of the presidential election at his family home in Olon, Ecuador, Sunday, April 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Fernando Vergara)
In 2025, at least nine people, including a baby, were killed there in an attack that authorities also blamed on clashes between local gangs.
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Ecuador ended the year with a record murder rate of 52 per 100,000 people, according to the Organized Crime Observatory, making it the deadliest year on record.
