So far this year, Ecuador has recorded more than a thousand violent deaths, despite the fact that since January 2024 the country has been under an internal armed conflict declared by the current president to combat organised crime gangs. The fact that among the victims there are several minors makes the situation even more alarming.
The security crisis in Ecuador claimed the lives of 46 children in January this year, some of whom were not even a year old, according to figures shared today in local media.
Crimes involving child victims occurred in 21 regions in eight provinces, including Guayas, where 14 children and teenagers were killed on 1 January 2025, the most violent month in the country’s history.
Beyond the numbers, what is really shocking are the conditions of the crimes, most of which were committed with firearms, according to the online news portal Primicias. In February, the situation was also alarming, with a case in Huaquillas, in the southern province of El Oro, where a three-year-old girl was killed, along with her parents, who were shot while riding a motorbike.
The ongoing violence prompted President Daniel Noboa to issue several states of exception in the provinces most affected by insecurity so that the Armed Forces could act together with the National Police to contain the violence, but crimes persist and there are reports of human rights violations.
The Permanent Committee for the Defence of Human Rights (CDH) of Guayaquil denounced the death of a boy in the coastal city of Guayaquil as a result of security operations. 14 year old Miguel Ángel died from the impact of four shots to different parts of his torso and the back of his head, although the police are prosecuting the case as a ‘legitimate use of force’ and described the minor as a member of an organised crime group, something his relatives rule out.
Billy Navarrete, director of the CDH, pointed out that the country faces a serious situation with human rights violations in the context of militarisation.
According to Navarrete, uniformed officers engage in extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances by asserting legitimate misuse of force. PL
(Translated by Cristina Popa – Email: gcpopa83@gmail.com) – Pictures: Pixabay
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