Ecuador investigates if eight bodies found match missing youths

Ecuador's State Attorney General's Office is investigating the discovery of eight bodies in a tropical region of the country to determine if they belong to eight young people who were reported missing on May 31. The Prosecutor's Office announced on social media that it, along with the police, exhumed the eight bodies from the Las Cañitas sector on the Jujan-Babahoyo road. "Evidence is being collected to determine if these are the individuals who disappeared on May 31," the office stated.

The families of the missing youths, who had traveled to the city of Milagro to retrieve motorcycle documents, lost contact with them shortly after. The families have been protesting, demanding swift action from authorities in their investigation, and are awaiting the identification of the bodies in Guayaquil, the capital of Guayas province, which is one of Ecuador's most violence-affected areas.

Ecuador has been under a state of "internal armed conflict" since 2024, declared by President Daniel Noboa to intensify the fight against criminal gangs, which he has labeled as "terrorists." Despite these measures, 2025 ended with a record number of homicides in Ecuador, estimated at around 9,300 according to figures from the Ministry of the Interior.

The discovery of the bodies adds a grim dimension to the ongoing security crisis in Ecuador, where violence linked to organized crime continues to pose a significant challenge.