Ecuador gang leader shot dead at Guayaquil airport

Security camera footage captured two gunmen waiting outside Guayaquil's main airport holding a bouquet and a large plush toy. When the suspected leader of the Los Águilas cartel, Carlos Alberto Suastegui Villanueva, emerged, one shooter pulled a pistol from behind the bear and opened fire at point‑blank range, killing him.

Ecuadorian police arrested two teenagers at the scene and seized two firearms. The killing occurred a day after President Daniel Noboa declared a 60‑day state of emergency in ten provinces amid a surge in gang violence. Los Águilas, designated a terrorist organization by Noboa, is linked to drug trafficking routes between Colombia, Peru and the United States and Europe. The president’s hard‑line security strategy, backed by U.S. officials, has so far failed to curb the country’s rising homicide rate, now the highest in South America.