Five human heads suspended from ropes found on a popular beach (gruesome photo)

On a popular tourist beach in Ecuador, five severed human heads were found hanging from ropes, another gruesome manifestation of violence by drug cartels.

This was reported by The Sun.

Police found the bodies on the beach of Puerto Lopez in southwestern Ecuador. The severed heads were hung from ropes attached to wooden poles next to a warning sign, probably aimed at a group of people who allegedly blackmailed local fishermen. According to law enforcement officials, the act was carried out by a criminal organization as a direct threat to its rivals.

Local law enforcement officials note that drug traffickers often use fishermen and their boats to transport drugs. After the discovery of the bodies, police significantly increased control and patrols in Puerto Lopez.

Conflicts between drug cartels in Manabi province have escalated in recent months due to the struggle for territory and control over drug supply. A state of emergency has been declared in nine of Ecuador's 24 provinces, including Manabi.

the year 2025 was the bloodiest in Ecuador's history, with more than 9,000 murders recorded. Local prisons are effectively controlled by gangs, and hostile groups organize brutal "medieval" executions, hanging bodies on bridges, and numerous massacres. In April of that year, armed men in camouflage uniforms attacked spectators in the northwest of the country, shot 12 people in the south, and later killed at least 22 people in clashes between rivals in Guayaquil.

Last January, armed masked men broke into a television studio, threatening the host on air and forcing him to read a police warning.

The British Foreign Office advises against all but essential travel to Manabi and six other regions of the country due to the ongoing insecurity.

Ecuador's geographical location, bordering Peru and Colombia, makes it an important transit point for drugs en route to North America and Europe. Gangs that previously engaged only in extortion and the local drug market have been actively expanding since 2020, releasing prisoners and forcing others to follow orders under threat of death.

According to the Coast Guard, 90% of the smuggling comes through the port of Guayaquil, which has become the epicenter of the struggle between the cartels and the army and the last refuge of hundreds of victims of violence. A local police captain described the situation as "a graveyard with human body parts scattered everywhere."

In the neighboring city of Durán, where more than 400 people were killed in 2023, graffiti by the Los Tiguerones gang with the words "God, Peace, Freedom" can be seen on the streets.

Earlier, we wrote that the motorcade of Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa was attacked by a group of about 500 peopleon its way to the province of Cañar.