An Ecuadorean man accused by authorities of leading a faction of one of the country’s most feared criminal gangs has been shot dead in a brazen ambush outside the airport in Guayaquil, Ecuador’s largest city.
Security footage showed two young men waiting outside the arrivals terminal carrying stuffed toys and flowers before one of them approached the victim, pulled a gun concealed behind a teddy bear and shot him at point-blank range.
Police arrested two teenagers in connection with the killing, which marks the latest incident in Ecuador’s escalating wave of gang violence.
The shooting occurred just one day after President Daniel Noboa declared a fresh state of emergency in 10 provinces, including Guayas Province, where the attack took place.
Ecuador’s Interior Minister, John Reimberg, identified the victim as 39-year-old Carlos Alberto Suástegui Villanueva. Reimberg said Suástegui was the leader of the Los Águilas gang in El Triunfo, an area east of Guayaquil.
Los Águilas was designated a “terrorist organisation” by President Noboa in 2024. The group is accused of extensive involvement in drug trafficking and extortion.
The gang is among several criminal organisations blamed for transforming Ecuador from one of the region’s safer countries into a major crime hotspot with one of the highest murder rates in the Western Hemisphere.
Located between Colombia and Peru, the world’s two largest producers of coca, the key ingredient in cocaine, Ecuador has become a critical transit route for drugs being smuggled to the US, Europe and other international markets.
Although Guayaquil has been particularly affected by gang and drug-related violence, the daylight attack outside the airport’s arrivals hall stunned residents.
Local newspaper El Universo reported that passengers fled in panic as gunfire erupted.
Police said one bystander was injured during the attack. Video footage from the scene showed a man pulling a suitcase collapsing to the ground as the shooting unfolded.
The footage also captured the first gunman fleeing the scene while a second attacker fired another shot at Suástegui.
Authorities closed the arrivals hall for more than two hours while police officers and forensic investigators examined the crime scene.
President Noboa has sought to curb gang violence through repeated states of emergency, granting security forces expanded powers, including the ability to conduct warrantless searches when there are reasonable grounds to suspect criminal activity.
Despite those measures, Ecuador recorded its highest-ever murder rate in 2025, underscoring the continuing challenge posed by organised crime.
Faridah Abdulkadiri
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