INTERNACIONAL
Five severed heads found hanging on Ecuador beach amid escalating gang clashes
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Five severed human heads were found hanging from ropes on a beach in southwestern Ecuador Sunday in a gruesome display linked to ongoing gang violence sweeping across the country, according to reports.
The killings came amid a wave of bloody violence tied to drug trafficking and organized crime, which has surged across Ecuador in recent years.
The Associated Press reported that the grim discovery underscores the tactics used by criminal groups competing for control of territory and trafficking routes, especially along the country’s coastline.
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Drug trafficking gangs leave five human heads on Ecuador beach with a threatening message to fishermen, police said, as violence surges along the country’s coastal trafficking routes. (Kike Calvo/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
Police said the heads were found on a tourist beach in the small fishing port of Puerto Lopez, in Manabi province.
The images shared by Ecuadorian media and on social media showed the severed heads tied with ropes to wooden poles planted in the sand, with blood visible at the scene.
A wooden sign left beside the heads carried a threatening message aimed at alleged extortionists targeting local fishermen.
The message warned those demanding so-called «vaccine cards» protection payments commonly extorted by gangs that they had been identified, the report said.
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Members of the Marines detain a suspect during security operations in southern Guayaquil, Ecuador on October 19, 2021. – Ecuador’s President Guillermo Lasso on October 19 declared a state of emergency in the country grappling with a surge in drug-related violence. (AFP via Getty Images)
Authorities said the display was likely the result of a conflict between criminal groups operating in the area.
Drug-trafficking networks with links to transnational cartels are active along Ecuador’s coast and have used fishermen and their small boats to transport illicit shipments, according to local police.
President Daniel Noboa launched an armed campaign against gangs and declared states of emergency in several provinces, including Manabi, deploying the military to support police operations.
Despite his efforts, violence has continued to escalate with police increasing patrols and surveillance in Puerto Lopez following recent massacres in the province, the Associated Press said.
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Ecuador’s President Daniel Noboa addresses supporters after early returns show him in the lead in the presidential election runoff at his family home in Olon, Ecuador, Sunday, April 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Fernando Vergara)
In 2025, at least nine people, including a baby, were killed there in an attack that authorities blamed on clashes between local gangs also.
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As previously reported by Fox News Digital, in 2025, infighting between factions of a gang vying for control over territory in Ecuador’s largest city, Guayaquil, left nearly two dozen people dead.
Ecuador ended the year with a record homicide rate of 52 per 100,000 people, according to the Organized Crime Observatory, making it the deadliest year on record.
crime world,crime,organized crime,drugs,latino,homicide,south america
INTERNACIONAL
Cómo fue el operativo secreto que montó Estados Unidos para rescatar a su piloto derribado en Irán
En Infobae al Mediodía, el analista Andrei Serbin Pont detalló cómo Estados Unidos llevó adelante una de sus operaciones más arriesgadas desde la guerra de Vietnam: la extracción de un piloto que permaneció 36 horas escondido en las montañas iraníes, luego de que su F-15 fuera derribado cerca de la central nuclear de Isfahán.
Durante el programa junto a Maru Duffard, Jimena Grandinetti, Fede Mayol y Facundo Kablan, Serbin Pont relató: “No se piloteó mucho la nave, fue derribada y vimos lo que fue un rescate absolutamente de película. No solo el derribo de la aeronave, también el despliegue de inteligencia, una instalación nuclear de por medio y una ciudad de más de dos millones de habitantes al lado. Todo eso ocurrió en 48 horas”.
La trastienda del rescate: comandos, engaño y una base improvisada
El especialista ubicó el episodio en las inmediaciones de Isfahán, uno de los focos del programa nuclear iraní. “Fue en las proximidades de Isfahán que cae el F-15, derribado por misiles de defensa. La aeronave logra avanzar unos 70 kilómetros antes de impactar, y ahí empieza la operación de rescate”, explicó.
El piloto, parte de una tripulación de dos, fue rescatado rápidamente, pero el WSO —encargado de navegación y armas— debió sobrevivir 36 horas oculto, mientras fuerzas iraníes lo buscaban intensamente. “Estados Unidos arma una base aérea transitoria a 50 kilómetros de una central nuclear. Utilizan una pista que estaba en la zona, aterrizan aviones de transporte con helicópteros adentro y despliegan comandos para ir a buscar al piloto”, narró Serbin Pont.
El despliegue incluyó fuerzas especiales estadounidenses y de Israel, pararescatistas y un impresionante apoyo aéreo: “Tuvieron que enfrentar armamento antiaéreo y hasta hubo enfrentamientos armados desde el aire. El piloto logra subir más de dos mil metros para activar el localizador y ser encontrado”.
La operación, además, incluyó un elemento clave de guerra de información. “Estados Unidos y la CIA fueron proactivos en desinformar. Hicieron creer a Irán que el oficial estaba en el sur del país. Filtraron videos, difundieron rumores y manipularon la opinión pública para que Irán concentrara sus fuerzas lejos del verdadero punto donde ocurría el rescate”, expuso el analista.
Problemas logísticos, destrucción de evidencia y un escape al límite
El operativo no estuvo exento de inconvenientes técnicos. Serbin Pont describió: “Los aviones de transporte quedaron varados en la tierra blanda de la pista improvisada. Hubo que llamar a aeronaves más pequeñas para evacuar al personal, incluido el rescatado. Cuando logran salir, aviones de combate estadounidenses destruyen los equipos y los restos de las aeronaves y helicópteros que no pudieron despegar, para evitar que caigan en manos iraníes”.
La magnitud del despliegue dejó imágenes impactantes de restos calcinados, que generaron especulaciones sobre el verdadero objetivo de la misión. El conductor subrayó: “Surge la pregunta de si esta operación fue solo para rescatar al tripulante, o si había un objetivo mayor, considerando la cercanía con la central nuclear y el uranio enriquecido iraní, uno de los puntos que Estados Unidos exige negociar”.
El contexto internacional agregó presión: el rescate coincidió con un ultimátum de la Casa Blanca para reabrir el estrecho de Ormuz y con una escalada de amenazas cruzadas. “Se está hablando tanto de diálogo como de ultimátums. Trump insiste en que Estados Unidos puede destruir Irán en una noche. Todo en un momento donde la negociación está trabada y hay movimientos militares que generan sospechas”, resumió Serbin Pont.
Estrategia, desinformación y la guerra que sigue sin resolverse
El bloque cerró con un análisis sobre la guerra informativa y las consecuencias para el conflicto. “La campaña de desinformación fue deliberada. Manipularon a los medios y a la opinión pública para asegurar el éxito de la operación de extracción. Solo necesitaban ganar tiempo”, sostuvo el conductor.
La descentralización del mando iraní, según Serbin Pont, permite que el régimen siga operando incluso tras la muerte de altos jefes militares. “Irán aprendió de los bombardeos del año pasado y descentralizó su estructura de comando. Eso les permite seguir dando batalla y resistiendo”, explicó.
Por último, el impacto económico y político no es menor: “El barril de petróleo superó los 110 dólares. La situación afecta a los mercados y a la campaña electoral estadounidense, donde las divisiones internas entre republicanos se hacen cada vez más visibles. El frente interno preocupa tanto como el externo”.
—
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INTERNACIONAL
Mauro compares Iran rescue of missing colonel to Maduro capture, credits intelligence preparation
CIA deception operation rescues missing US airman in Iran
Paul Mauro, Fox News contributor, explains the intricate Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) deception operation that rescued a U.S. airman missing for over 36 hours in Iran. The CIA used fabricated information to mislead Iranian searchers while precisely locating and extracting the airman. Mauro emphasizes the crucial role of human intelligence (HUMINT) and synchronized efforts, underscoring that intelligence, despite technological advances, fundamentally relies on people.
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U.S. intelligence agencies had already done the groundwork needed to locate a missing colonel inside Iran, Paul Mauro said Monday, arguing the operation relied on intelligence gathered well before the mission began.
«You’ve got to collect, you collect, you collect and a lot of it sometimes you’re never going to use,» Mauro told «Fox & Friends.»
«The key is when you need it, it has to be there.»
Mauro pointed to the Maduro case, which unfolded at the behest of the Trump administration in January, noting U.S. forces’ ability to pinpoint where the Venezuelan dictator and his wife were going to be at the time in order to make an effective capture.
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War Secretary Pete Hegseth shakes the hand of a American airman on a covert CENTCOM visit with troops in ‘theater.’ (War Secretary/X)
«They got him as they were running to a safe room without a scratch. Everybody comes out without a scratch,» he said.
«They got them as they were fleeing. That’s how detailed the messaging was, and that’s how synchronized the operation was.»
Mauro said that same level of preparation and coordination was on display in the Iran mission, where U.S. forces rescued a missing U.S. weapons systems officer from a downed F-15E following a multi-day search inside enemy territory.
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Artificial intelligence is a big factor in the Iran war and Iran realizes it. (iStock)
U.S. intelligence was able to act quickly to retrieve the missing colonel once his location was confirmed.
«[This] was one of those situations where the bell rang. ‘Guys, what [have] you got?’ President turns around, [War Secretary] Hegseth turns around, [and] they all talk to Ratcliffe and they say, ‘What [have] you got, director?’ and fortunately it was there.»
Mauro said the operation highlights a broader fact about intelligence work that is apparent to those working within its community: its success comes down to the people running the sources.
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«At the end of the day… it comes down to people,» he said.
«If you think that you can sit in a cubicle someplace and get everything you need to be done, that’s not how it’s going to go. You need people in country, in dangerous areas, Americans working on our behalf that you’ll never hear about… they’re running the sources so that, again, when you need it, they say, ‘My source is good.’«
fox news media, national security, cia, pentagon, war with iran
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A custody hearing in Ada, Oklahoma, last month took a turn for the unexpected — and the incredibly loud — after an attorney who identified himself as transgender was arrested and dragged from the courtroom where he had appeared to represent his client just minutes before.
The exchange occurred during a custody hearing in Pontotoc County, Oklahoma, some 90 minutes southeast of Oklahoma City. The attorney, Rob Hopkins, was jailed for contempt after sparring repeatedly with the judge, Lori Jackson, during an otherwise unremarkable proceeding.
Surveillance footage, audio, and body camera footage reviewed by Fox News Digital has shed new light on the extraordinary confrontation, in which Hopkins can be seen actively resisting arrest by bailiffs. At one point, Hopkins can be seen splaying his body across the judge’s bench, resulting in a pile of documents being swept off its finely polished wood surface.
«You’re HURTING ME!» Hopkins bellowed, as bystanders looked on. «I can’t BREATHE!» he shrieked again, louder.
Attendees in the courtroom could be seen looking on quietly as Hopkins twisted, turned, and contorted his body to evade the handcuffs that officers used to restrain him.
«I felt very threatened by this person,» one individual could be heard telling the judge.
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(Surveillance footage provided to Fox News Digital by the Oklahoma District Attorney’s Office, 22nd District.)
The meltdown in question, and the arrest, occurred during a custody hearing punctuated by repeated interruptions from Hopkins and warnings from Jackson that he would be held in contempt.
Hopkins then suggested she was discriminating against him for his transgender status, escalating tensions inside the courtroom.
«It’s because I’m a transgender attorney practicing all over the state,» Hopkins leveled sharply, to which Jackson shot back: «I don’t know what you are.»
«I don’t know you from Adam,» Jackson said later, describing his conduct as «entirely inappropriate.»
Shortly after, bailiffs entered the courtroom, prompting the hearing to descend into complete chaos.
«Do NOT HURT ME!» Hopkins yelled at the officers.
«I’m being thrown down!» he bellowed, as he threw himself on the bench before the officers eventually forced him onto the floor.
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More officers streamed in to help restrain Hopkins, whose uproarious exclamations had, at that point, drawn a crowd — not only in the courtroom, but also in the hallways surrounding it, as the body camera footage shows.
«Get a female officer, now!» Hopkins demanded. «Call 911!» he shrieked, as the officers attempted to place him in handcuffs.
«I can’t breathe! I can’t breathe!» he declared.
From the floor of the court, Hopkins accused the officers of «throwing his glasses» onto the floor — a claim that surveillance footage reviewed by Fox News Digital appears to refute — and ordered the officers to place them back on his face.
«Put them on my face,» Hopkins demanded repeatedly, as the officers attempted to place Hopkins into a seated position and escort him from the court. «PUT THEM ON MY FACE!» Hopkins screamed once more, the volume and urgency unchanged from his request for emergency services just seconds before.
‘YOU SHOULD BE ASHAMED!’: PROTESTER DRAGGED FROM KRISTI NOEM’S SENATE HEARING
Rob Hopkins, a transgender lawyer in Oklahoma, was jailed for contempt during a procedural hearing in Ada, Oklahoma, last month after a viral meltdown. ( Oklahoma District Attorney’s Office, 22nd Prosecutorial District.)
Hopkins said he has since shuttered his law firm following the contempt charge and fallout from the hearing.
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He did not respond to Fox News Digital’s requests for comment regarding either the proceedings in question or the reason for his firm’s closure.
politics, crime world, donald trump, federal judges, us, fox news media, federal courts, judiciary
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