SAA event in Ecuador on Sat 16th May 2026

A sudden armed attack at an ecuavoley court in the Las Jacuatas sector of Montecristi canton, Manabí province, left five people dead and several seriously wounded on Friday night. Official investigations identified the deceased as Anthony Alexander Tejena Macías, Pedro Mauricio Sánchez Figueroa, Máximo Ernesto Figueroa Zambrano, Pastor Palemon Ponce Pincay, and Andy Jeremy Moreira Cantos. The heavily armed assailants stormed the public space shortly before the start of curfew, opening fire directly before fleeing without being identified. The district encompassing Manta, Montecristi, and Jaramijó is experiencing intense turf wars for control of drug trafficking routes and assets, registering an alarming trend of over one hundred violent deaths so far in 2026. This region of Manabí is considered a strategic enclave for the storage and distribution of narcotics, which has led to constant security operations by intelligence forces to restore public order. Massacres in community recreation areas have become a criminal pattern used by criminal organizations to exert territorial pressure and demonstrate impunity to the state government. The persistence of these armed incursions into residential areas under a state of emergency poses serious challenges to strengthening the rule of law and regional stability in Ecuador. National Police units and forensic experts are conducting an ongoing investigation at the scene, collecting ballistic evidence.