Killing of journalist underscores deteriorating conditions in Ecuador

Tomás Beltrán was shot dead amid gang warfare that has turned Latin American country into one of its most violent

Tomás Beltrán was manoeuvring his car into his garage on Sunday night when the Ecuadorian journalist was shot dead.

Beltrán ran a Facebook page with news about Calceta, a small city in the province of Manabí, whose Pacific coastline has made it a key flashpoint in the gang warfare over drug trafficking routes that has transformed one of Latin America’s safest countries into one of its most violent.

Police and the public prosecutor’s office have not said much about the case, and little was known about the killers except that they were armed and then fled the scene.