Air Force Colonel Killed by Hitmen in Ecuador

On Friday, hitmen ambushed Colonel Porfirio Cedeño, an Air Force officer, in the city of Guayaquil—one of the hardest-hit areas by the country’s escalating drug war. Cedeño, who led an elite air force special operations unit, was traveling in a van on his way to a military ceremony when the attack unfolded.

According to police, more than 20 gunshots were fired during the ambush, with the van’s driver also suffering a gunshot wound to the leg. The vehicle came to a halt, windows shattered and filled with bullet holes, as authorities found more than 20 bullet casings scattered at the scene. Investigators believe the assailants were traveling in another vehicle, making it a coordinated attack.

Cedeño was en route to the coastal city of Manta, roughly three hours away from Guayaquil, a region plagued by ongoing turf battles between rival drug gangs. Ecuador, once considered one of South America’s most stable nations, has become one of its most violent, with soaring homicide rates tied directly to the surge in narcotics operations.

The rise in criminal violence has been fueled by the presence of transnational cartels operating within the country. Ecuador’s strategic location between Peru and Colombia, the world’s two largest cocaine producers, has made it a central hub for drug trafficking. These groups are responsible for not just narcotics trade, but also rampant kidnapping, extortion, and terrorizing local communities.

Former President Rafael Correa, who had worked with Cedeño during his time in office, took to social media to mourn the loss of his “dear friend” and praised the Colonel’s service to Ecuador’s security.

In January 2024, the country faced another surge of violence after the jailbreak of a notorious crime boss. Ecuador’s government declared a state of “internal armed conflict” in response to the subsequent waves of violence, which included gunmen storming a TV studio and threatening public executions.

Last month, Ecuador’s military made a significant arrest in the war on organized crime, detaining the leader of one of the largest criminal groups, Los Lobos. This syndicate is recognized by the U.S. as Ecuador’s most prominent drug trafficking organization. In 2023, Ecuador registered a chilling homicide rate of 47 per 100,000 inhabitants, a reflection of the ongoing violence that continues to devastate communities across the nation.