Soccer star Mario Pineida shot and killed in Ecuador

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Ecuadorian police said on Wednesday that Mario Pineida, a 33-year-old Barcelona de Guayaquil defender and former national team player, was shot dead in an apparent attack as violence escalates in the Andean nation.

Another person who police did not identify was also killed in the incident, and a third was wounded.

Ecuador's Interior Ministry confirmed Pineida's death without providing details. Barcelona de Guayaquil said in a statement its fans are saddened by Pineida's death. "Rest in peace," the team wrote in a separate social media post paying tribute to Pineida.

Pineida played eight games for Ecuador but was not involved in the team qualifying for the 2026 World Cup. His last game for Ecuador was at the 2021 Copa América, as a late substitute in a group-stage game against Brazil. He also went to the 2017 edition.

Pineida started his professional career at Independiente del Valle, where he played from 2010 to 2015. He then moved to the club of the coastal city of Guayaquil in 2016 and won two league titles there. The defender also had a brief spell at Brazil's Fluminense in 2022.

Ecuadorian media reported the incident took place in the region of Samanes in the north end of Guayaquil, which lies 165 miles southwest of the capital Quito.

Playing soccer in Ecuador can be deadly, with match-fixing mafias part of a global criminal empire that earns gangs some $1.7 trillion per year, according to a recent United Nations estimate.

Barcelona SC v Palmeiras - Copa CONMEBOL Libertadores 2023

In November, a 16-year-old footballer of Independiente del Valle died from a stray bullet, also in Guayaquil. Miguel Nazareno was at home "when he unfortunately became a victim of the insecurity affecting our country," the soccer team said in an Instagram post, citing a wave of criminal violence began in Ecuador almost five years ago.

In October, Ecuadoran soccer player Bryan "Cuco" Angulo was shot in the foot while attending a training session.

Two months earlier, Maicol Valencia and Leandro Yépez, both players of Exapromo Costa, and Jonathan González, of 22 de Junio died from gunshot wounds.

Escalating violence in Ecuador

Ecuador is expected to have its most violent year on record with more than 9,000 homicides, according to the Ecuadorian Observatory of Organized Crime. That figure was at 7,063 violent deaths last year and a then-record 8,248 in 2023.

President Daniel Noboa has pledged to fight criminal organizations that have expanded their operations in Ecuadorian territory in connection with international drug cartels.

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.

Noboa has deployed troops to combat the violence — to little effect.

In the first half of this year, homicides in Ecuador increased by 47% compared to the same period in 2024, according to the Observatory of Organized Crime.

In October, an Ecuadoran judge was killed while walking his children to school. Provincial police chief Colonel Giovanni Naranjo told reporters the Los Lobos gang — designated a foreign terrorist organization by the United States — was suspected of the attack.

Also in October, authorities in Ecuador reported two attacks that left 14 people dead and 17 wounded, with some of the victims showing signs of torture.

Criminal gang violence continues unabated following the recapture in June of the country's biggest drug lord, Adolfo Macías after his escape from a maximum-security prison in 2024. In July, the Ecuadoran government extradited Macias to the United States, where he faces multiple drug trafficking and firearms charges.