Five human heads were found hung on display at a tourist beach in Ecuador on Sunday, police said, as the country feels from a wave of gang violence.

Images on social media showed five heads tied with ropes on two wooden posts on the beach in Puerto Lopez, a popular whale watching destination in the country's southwest.

Beside them, a wooden board bore a message threatening gang members who extort protection payments known locally as "vaccine cards".

"The town belongs to us. Keep robbing fishermen and demanding vaccine cards, we already have you identified," it read.

At the same beach in December, at least nine people, including a baby, were killed in violence that authorities blamed on clashes between local gangs.

Ecuador ended 2025 as its most violent year on record, with a homicide rate of 52 per 100,000 inhabitants, according to the Ecuadorian Observatory of Organized Crime.

President Daniel Noboa has pledged to fight criminal organizations that have expanded their operations in Ecuadorian territory in connection with international drug cartels. But two years of military activity have failed to stem the bloodshed.

Since 2021, Ecuador has experienced growing criminal violence by gangs operating in coordination with Colombian and Mexican cartels involved in drug trafficking.

Strategically located between Colombia and Peru, two of the world's largest cocaine producers, it has become a major transit hub for narcotics.

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