Mayor of Ecuador’s third-largest city gunned down

The mayor of the Ecuadoran coastal city of Manta was gunned down on Sunday, months after being reelected for a term that began in May.

Agustín Intriago, 38, was killed along with one other person and four others were wounded, including the suspects, Interior Minister Juan Zapata said on Twitter. Intriago was a lawyer and part of a local initiative, the Better City movement.

An armed forces armored vehicle drives outside the Litoral Penitentiary where a riot broke out that so far has left 5 prisoners dead, according to authorities, in Guayaquil, Ecuador, Sunday, July 23, 2023. (Cesar Munoz/AP)

Zapata said one “collateral victim” along with four wounded were reported, and that the two wounded suspects were in police custody, being treated under surveillance.

The Pacific port city of Manta, about 160 miles southwest of the country’s capital of Quito, is along a section of coastline that gangs use to ship drugs to Europe and the rest of the Americas. Disputes among organized crime groups have been blamed by authorities for an outbreak of violence. On top of that, the country has seen a crime surge of armed attacks, kidnappings, robberies and extortion.

Zapata said Ecuadorian police “will not rest until they find those responsible for this reprehensible attack and bring them to justice” and said authorities were in “total solidarity with the family and friends of Mayor Manta” in the wake of his “senseless death from an armed attack.”

“This crime cannot go unpunished,” tweeted Intriago’s sister, Ana Intriago. “Let’s not let them win.”

With News Wire Services

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