In brief
In Huaquillas, southern Ecuador, two political candidates were killed in an armed attack on Monday night, just weeks before the province’s local elections. Police call the killings part of a sharp rise in homicides in El Oro, which has recorded nearly 1,000 murders in 2026—about half again as many as the same period last year. The incident has cast a grim pall over the upcoming vote scheduled for November 29.
In the Los Israelitas neighborhood of Huaquillas, a suburb in the southern coastal province of El Oro, two Ecuadorian political figures were slain in a shooting that unfolded on a Monday night in early November 2026. The victims, former mayor Ronald Farfan, who was campaigning to reclaim the mayoral office, and Cristhian Rugel, a candidate for city councilor, were attending a political gathering when armed men intercepted the group and opened fire.
The National Police confirmed the killings through an official statement issued by the department, noting that the attack occurred in the immediate vicinity of the political event. According to police officials, the assailants were unknown and had positioned themselves strategically in the public area, catching the candidates and their supporters off‑guard. Both men were gravely wounded and taken to a local hospital, where Farfan later died from his injuries and Rugel succumbed to his wounds. Police investigators have outlined several possible motives, including threats and extortion linked to criminal organizations operating in the region.
El Oro has been experiencing a marked surge in violent crime this year. Local media reports, drawing on statistics released by the National Police, indicate that the province has recorded almost 1,000 homicides so far in 2026—approximately 50 percent more than the comparable period of the previous year. The spike underscores a broader national trend of escalating violence that authorities say is tied to both criminal turf wars and the growing influence of illegal groups involved in drug trafficking and extortion.
The incident comes at a critical juncture for Ecuador’s political calendar. Local elections are slated for November 29, where voters in El Oro will decide on a slate of officials, including provincial prefects and vice‑prefects, mayors, urban and rural city councilors, and members of rural parish boards. The death of two promising electoral candidates has raised alarm among campaign organizers and community leaders, who worry that the violence may deter turnout and jeopardize the legitimacy of the electoral process.
Local media outlets that covered the attack emphasized the fact that the shooting took place during a public political rally, a backdrop that alarmed neighbors and supporters alike. “The atmosphere turned into panic after the attackers fired shots in the open,” a correspondent at the time reported, noting that the violence was immediate and unprovoked. There has been no public statement from the candidates’ campaign teams at the time of writing, leaving the motives and targeted nature of the attack still in question.
National Police investigators are now looking into several threads, including a possible link to extortion correspondence that far earlier in the year brought other local leaders into scrutiny. “We are investigating whether this incident is connected to a broader pattern of mob activity in the province,” an official remarked in a briefing withheld from the media. Meanwhile, civil society groups have called for heightened security measures around election sites and for a thorough probe into the rise in homicides that has plagued Quito’s neighboring provinces.
As the election day approaches, officials are warning of further destabilizing acts of violence that could jeopardize campaign activities. The authorities have expanded patrols and urged the public to report any suspicious activities that might foreshadow another tragedy. The judicial system remains on alert, with prosecutors stating that they will pursue any suspect linked to the attack through the legal process, aiming to deter further attempts to silence political voices in El Oro. The community’s hope is that the hard‑won peace of an election will prevail over the violence that has hemmed in Huaquillas for months.
