Prosecutor killed in attack in Ecuadorian port city dominated by drug traffickers
Prosecutor Gloria Bravo, who had held her position for 15 years, was killed in a criminal attack in Manta, one of the main strongholds of the Los Choneros group.
Prosecutor killed in attack in Ecuadorian port city dominated by drug traffickers
A prosecutor was killed on Sunday in an attack carried out in Manta, a port city in western Ecuador and stronghold of several drug trafficking groups, according to an announcement by the General Prosecutor's Office. The victim, identified as Gloria Bravo, worked in a public ministry service located in the vicinity of the attack site. Local media reported that the magistrate's sister, who was with her at the time of the attack, also died.
Bravo had worked as a prosecutor for 15 years and had investigated multiple cases of organised crime in the region. At the time of her death, she was in charge of investigating a recent fire that destroyed approximately 35 boats in a fishing port in Manta, an incident whose circumstances have not yet been established by authorities.
The public ministry strongly rejected and condemned the criminal attack against the magistrate. With this crime, three public ministry officials have now been killed in the same city. Manta constitutes one of the main strongholds of the criminal group Los Choneros, whose leader, alias Fito, was arrested and extradited last year to the United States, where he is being prosecuted for drug and arms trafficking.
Manta is among the cities most affected by drug trafficking in Ecuador, a country through which 70 per cent of the cocaine from neighbouring Colombia and Peru, the world's leading producers of this drug, transits. Despite support from the United States and the right-wing government of Daniel Noboa's repressive policies against drug trafficking, violence remains rampant. With a murder rate of 50.9 per 100,000 inhabitants in 2025, Ecuador ranks among the most dangerous countries in Latin America.
_Source: Le Temps_
Source: Le Temps