"The press in Ecuador is doing its work amid the government’s war on drug trafficking, which has turned the country into the most violent in Latin America, with a record 54 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants in 2025 — equivalent to one every hour, according to official data.
'Having six journalists killed in just one year is absolutely abnormal,' RSF's Latin America director, Artur Romeu, said in Quito.
He added that 'this had never happened before' and that four of those killings were carried out in retaliation for journalistic work."
