Holidaymakers were confronted with a horrific sight this month when five severed heads were displayed on a popular beach in Ecuador alongside a chilling warning.
The heads were discovered in Puerto López, a small fishing village on the nation’s Pacific coastline, renowned for whale watching and picturesque shores.
In recent times, the town has also fallen victim to drug-trafficking cartels due to a surge in cocaine smuggling throughout the country.
Authorities have linked the grisly incident to feuds between competing criminal organisations in the region.
Images circulating on social media reveal five heads suspended from a rope stretched between two wooden stakes.
Below the heads sits a message stating: “The town belongs to us. Keep robbing fishermen and demanding protection payments, we already have identified you.”
Police have confirmed the remains belong to five men, aged between 20 and 34, who had been reported missing in recent weeks. Their bodies remain unaccounted for, reports the Mirror.
Ecuador is a small South American nation situated between Colombia and Peru, two of the globe’s biggest cocaine producers.
This positioning has transformed Ecuador into one of the continent’s most perilous countries. It now boasts the highest murder rate in South America, surpassing Mexico, Colombia and Brazil.
2025 proved the bloodiest year in the nation’s history, with 9,176 murders recorded – an unprecedented figure.
By contrast, England and Wales registered merely 535 homicides in 2025, despite boasting a population more than five times larger than Ecuador.
Ecuador’s Pacific coastal towns – such as Puerto López – have emerged as the “region’s most efficient gateways” for cocaine shipments bound for Europe and the US, according to human rights monitor International Crisis Group.
On 28 December 2025, six people, including a two year old child, were killed at a beach in Puerto López when a gunman opened fire. Six more were killed in a shooting the day before.
The massacre was linked to tensions within a local gang, Los Choneros.
The group is estimated to have as many as 20,000 members and is recognised as a terrorist organisation by the US government.
