By Vanessa Buschschlüter, Latin America online editor
At 5.45 am on 17 June, a presumed 39‑year‑old leader of Ecuador’s Los Águilas gang – Carlos Alberto Suástegui Villanueva – was shot dead as he walked away from the arrivals hall of José Joaquín de Olmedo International Airport in Guayaquil.
Security footage released by police shows two young men waiting outside the terminal, holding stuffed toys and flowers. One of them pulls a rifle from behind a teddy bear and pulls the trigger, firing a point‑blank shot that kills the suspect. The second man later runs away, after firing another shot at the victim.
Authorities have detained two teenagers in connection with the attack. The incident comes amid a wave of gang violence that has prompted President Daniel Noboa to declare a state of emergency covering ten provinces, including the Guayas region where the attack occurred.
Los Águilas, categorized as a “terrorist organisation” in 2024, has been linked to extensive drug trafficking and extortion. The group is among several that have turned Ecuador into one of the Western Hemisphere’s highest murder‑rate spots, affecting especially Guayaquil.
The airport’s arrivals hall was locked for over two hours while forensic teams and police investigated the scene. A bystander was wounded, and a man was filmed pulling a suitcase and collapsing on the floor as shots rang out.
President Noboa’s emergency decree grants security forces expanded powers, such as warrantless searches when reasonable grounds exist. Still, the country’s murder rate peaked in 2025, underscoring the limited impact of these measures.
Ecuador sits between Colombia and Peru, the world’s largest coca‑producing nations, and serves as a key corridor for cocaine smuggling to the United States and Europe. The brutal airport shooting further illustrates the violence that threatens this critical trade route.
Image: 
Credit: REUTERS/Cesar Munoz
