Esmeraldas registers the highest homicide rate in Ecuador

The province of Esmeraldas registers the highest rate in the country. The city reports 44.6 deaths per 100 thousand inhabitants. In other words, 301 violent deaths were recorded here, a figure four times higher than the 78 cases recorded throughout 2021.

The Metropolitan District of Guayaquil (Durán, Samborondón and Guayaquil) is in second place with 26.6 deaths per 100 thousand inhabitants. 859 violent deaths were recorded here, a much higher figure than the 368 cases recorded in 2021.

However, this figure already increased on the afternoon of this Monday, August 15. A shooting left at least three dead, in the Flor de Bastión sector, in Guayaquil. According to an unofficial version of the authorities, the massacre is due to the struggle between gangs to control a strategic territory to carry out illegal activities.

En el barrio Flor de Bastión, de Guayaquil, cuatro delincuentes asesinaron a tres personas cerca del mediodía bajo modalidad sicariato. Con el Estado de Excepción, @PoliciaEcuador ingresó de inmediato al lugar para recoger indicios; en las próximas horas se dará más información.

— Ministerio del Interior Ecuador (@MinInteriorEc) August 15, 2022