QUITO, Jan 20 (Reuters) – Ecuador saw a 30% climb in murders in 2025 compared to the previous year, its interior ministry said on Tuesday, highlighting the challenge President Daniel Noboa’s government faces in its war against gangs.
The South American country recorded 9,216 murders last year, a sharp rise from 7,063 in 2024, ministry data showed. The increase reversed a positive trend from the previous year, when murders had fallen by 15%.
The government has attributed the spiraling violence to turf wars between splintered gangs vying for control following the capture or death of their leaders.
Police said they captured 20 “high-value” targets in 2025. The bulk of the violence was concentrated in the coastal province of Guayas, home to the major port city of Guayaquil.
Noboa, who has declared several states of emergency, recently mobilized over 10,000 soldiers to the country’s three most violent provinces in response to the crisis.
Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Tuesday, Noboa told attendees that Ecuador was fighting a “complete war against evil and narco-terrorism.”
(Reporting by Alexandra Valencia; Editing by Daina Beth Solomon and Kylie Madry)
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