Five severed human heads were discovered on a tourist beach Sunday in southwestern Ecuador as violence between drug traffickers continues to grip the South American nation, police said.
Officers said they discovered the gruesome display at Puerto Lopez, a small fishing port in Manabi province, The Associated Press (AP) reported. The heads were hanging from ropes attached to wooden poles. Authorities attributed the killings to criminal organizations fighting for control of drug trafficking routes.
A wooden sign left next to the heads carried a direct threat to those who allegedly extort local fishermen. The message warned those demanding protection payments known as “vaccine cards” that they had been identified, according to CBS News
Drug traffickers with ties to international cartels have employed fishermen to use their boats for illicit operations, officials told the AP. (RELATED: REPORT: Country Captures Notorious Cartel Leader, Fentanyl Trafficker)
Five human heads were found hung on display at a tourist beach in Ecuador on Sunday, police said, as the country feels from a wave of gang violence.
— CBS News (@CBSNews) January 11, 2026
Images online indicated that all five victims as young men, Ecuadorian outlet Primicias reported. Only one possessed a criminal record. Authorities named him as Bernardo Ramón Medranda Mendoza, 24, who faced prior weapons charges. Investigators have not located the rest of the victims’ bodies.
The same area saw a deadly incident on Dec. 28, 2025, Primicias reported. Gunmen allegedly opened fire in Puerto Lopez facing the shore and killed six people while wounding three others.
Ecuador recorded its most violent year in 2025 with over 9,000 homicides, according to IBTimes. The country’s murder rate hit 52 per 100,000 residents, the Ecuadorian Observatory for Organized Crime said. Killings jumped 47 percent in the first half of 2025 compared to the same period the year before.
President Daniel Noboa has declared states of emergency in nine out of Ecuador’s 24 provinces and dispatched military units amid the violence. The country sits between Colombia and Peru, both among the world’s top cocaine producers, and has become a major transit point for drug shipments.
Criminal groups linked to Colombian and Mexican cartels have expanded operations in Ecuador since 2021, CBS News reported.
