A new mayor has been shot dead this Wednesday in Ecuadorwithin the framework of the “internal armed conflict” declared by the president of Ecuador, Daniel Noboa, against crime gangs organized, main causes, according to the authorities, of the wave of violence that the country is experiencing. The victim is José Sánchez, mayor of the canton (municipality) Camilo Ponce Enriquezlocated in the southern Andean province of Azuay, as confirmed through social networks by the provincial prefect, Juan Cristóbal Lloret Valdivieso.

“Between sobs and helplessness, municipal officials They just corroborated my cold blooded murder of the fellow mayor of the canton Camilo Ponce Enríquez”, announced Lloret Valdivieso. “We express our deep regret to his family, friends and his worthy and noble people who elected him, while we demand that the authorities find those responsible for this new crime that mourns Azuay and Ecuador,” he added.

The Mayor’s Office of Camilo Ponce Enríquez also issued a statement in which he noted that “in an act of violence, one of those that the country is going through these daysthe mayor was shot and as a result lost his life.” According to local media, in the attack suffered by Sánchez, by alleged hitmen, two more people also died, although the authorities have not yet officially confirmed this point. Sánchez, popularly known as ‘Jushico’, had reported to the press and the Prosecutor’s Office an alleged attack against his home that occurred on the night of October 2, 2023.

Three weeks after another murder

The municipality of Camilo Ponce Enríquez, located near the coast of Ecuador, faced illegal mining problems in its jurisdiction around the Guanache River that the mayor, also dedicated to mining, had promised to formalize. Sánchez’s murder occurred just three weeks after Brigitte García was found shot to death, the youngest mayor of Ecuador, who at 27 years old was in charge of the canton of San Vicente, in the coastal province of Manabí.

Since the beginning of the year, Ecuador has found itself in an “internal armed conflict” declared by President Noboa against twenty-two organized crime gangs that the Government has come to consider as terrorist groups and non-state belligerent actors. These organized crime groups They are mainly dedicated to drug traffickingbut they have also expanded their illicit activities into other fields such as illegal mining or extortion.

With this, the Ecuadorian president sought to address an unprecedented wave of violence that has uplifted Ecuador. to the group of the most dangerous countries in Latin America, with a homicide rate of 45 per 100,000 inhabitants in 2023. This new attack against an authority also occurred just three days after the celebration of the referendum called by Noboa to carry out reforms in matters of justice, employment and, above all, security, with various illegal tools to strengthen the fight against organized crime.