Ecuador: Prosecutor Shot and Killed
In Ecuador, prosecutor Gloria Alexandra Bravo Cedeño was shot and killed in the coastal city of Manta on June 14, 2026, in an attack that also killed her sister, Human Rights Watch reported on June 16. Bravo handled homicide, kidnapping, and organized-crime cases and had investigated recent drone strikes on fishing vessels; the Attorney General’s Office said the killing was “in retaliation” for the institution’s fight against organized crime. She was the third prosecutor killed in Manta since 2022, and her death followed the May 12 assassination of Judge Lady Pachar in Machala, with the Observatory of Rights and Justice recording 26 killings of justice officials in Ecuador since 2020. HRW notes that many Ecuadorian judges and prosecutors lack basic security measures, armored vehicles, or protective equipment, and that over 1,000 judicial vacancies remain unfilled. The case underscores how targeted lethal violence against legal officials—when states fail to provide protection—directly undermines the rule of law and the independence of the justice system.