Several gunmen attacked the southern neighborhood of Guasmo in Guayaquil, Ecuador, as violence continued to surge in this once-peaceful South American country that has now become an important hub for the international drug trade.

"So far, the result is nine people dead and 10 injured," Ecuadorian police Col. Ramiro Arequipa said in a press conference on Sunday. Police also revealed that the attack happened around 7:00 PM local time. An armed group entered a pedestrian street riding a grey Chevrolet Spark. They got out of the car and approached a group of people who were practicing sports before opening fire.

While there are many drug gangs fighting over territory in Guayaquil, a port city often used to transport illegal drugs from South America to Mexico and the US, no group has claimed responsibility for the attack yet, according to the Associated Press.

This was the second mass killing in Ecuador in the last few days, as on Friday, five kidnapped people were executed in the coastal province of Manabi by an armed gang. Police say that the victims were tourists but were mistaken for drug traffickers and were just unfortunate to have been mistakenly caught up in a local drug trafficking dispute.

Ecuador's President Daniel Noboa remarked on these latest killings, saying that they "remind us that the battle continues," adding that "Narcoterrorism and its allies are looking for spaces to scare us, but they will not succeed."

Previously, Ecuador was known as a "bastion of peace in Latin America." However, crime has surged in recent years as local gangs allied with Mexican and Colombian drug cartels to help transport their illicit goods to North America. A State of Emergency has been in place since January.

Ecuador Launches Crime Sweep Amid State of Emergency and Rising Violence

The Guayaquil attack happened days after the Ecuadorian government under President Daniel Noboa enacted a massive crime sweep across the country. It also happened as the state of emergency was in place.

One of the areas where police conducted their operations was in the Socio Vivienda neighborhood in Guayaquil, where dozens of alleged gang members were detained as a result of that joint military and police operation, according to Reuters.

There were also constant patrols around the harbor area of Guayaquil, as well as officers and soldiers jointly looking for hidden weapons across the city's low-income neighborhoods. Operations were also done in Duran and Machala.

Ecuador Violence Affecting Children, Says Human Rights Watchdog Group

Meanwhile, Human Rights Watch has reported that the rising violence in Ecuador may be affecting its youngest citizens as well. Some schools have been forced to temporarily switch to online learning because of the violence and threats by criminal groups, and the human rights watchdog group says that it has "particularly impacted their right to learn in a safe environment."

Many in Ecuador have informed HRW that "online learning makes it difficult for school staff to detect sexual violence cases among children and for children to report these incidents."

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Rick Martin

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