Carlos Javier Vega, 19, asked to switch shifts at his father’s bakery in Guayaquil, Ecuador’s largest city, so he could help his cousin sell a puppy. A few blocks from the buyer’s location, however, their car was stopped at a checkpoint manned by navy troopers deployed on the streets after President Daniel Noboa decreed an “internal armed conflict” against organised crime.
Vega’s cousin attempted a U-turn, clipping a soldier and a military vehicle. An argument broke out, and the troops opened fire. Vega was shot four times and died; his cousin survived a gunshot to the shoulder.
