Ecuadorean journalist Tomás Beltrán murdered in Manabí following death threats
The director of the digital outlet Calcetines was shot on 8 November as he entered his home in Calceta. He had received threats since April after reporting a mayor for corruption.
Journalist Tomás Beltrán shot dead in Calceta, Manabí province
Tomás Beltrán, director of the digital outlet Calcetines, was murdered on the evening of Sunday 8 November as he entered his home by vehicle in Calceta, canton Bolívar, according to rfi.fr citing the press freedom NGO Fundamedios.
The journalist worked in Manabí, a province in south-western Ecuador. "It is one of the provinces that is unfortunately most impacted by the actions of criminal groups," Fundamedios director César Ricaurte told RFI.
Beltrán had received death threats in April, after reporting the mayor of the municipality of Bolívar for illicit enrichment. Since 2025 he was part of the Victims and Witnesses Protection System of Ecuador's General Prosecutor's Office.
"He had specialised in reporting cases of corruption in local governments. He had a history of constant threats. We had pursued from civil society that security measures be reinforced (...) it was essentially a murder that had been announced, it had been warned about and finally the security measures that had been adopted, well they did not work," Ricaurte lamented.
The Ecuadorean foundation Journalists Without Chains points out that six journalists were murdered in Ecuador in 2025, and denounces the impunity in those crimes.
Source: Google News EC — Crime