Karla
Age 3420 Mar 2026
Naranjal, Guayas (Ecuador)
Shot
Karla and her partner Carlos were both shot by unidentified assilants while travelling on a motorcycle on the Pan-American Highway.
On the night of March 20, 2026, Karla and Carlos were traveling by motorcycle on the Pan-American Highway near the San Juan community in the Naranjal canton, Guayas province. According to preliminary information gathered by Observatorio Runa Sipiy through its community network and local media, the couple was intercepted by armed individuals who repeatedly opened fire on them.
The modus operandi—intercepting the victim in motion, multiple discharges of projectiles, and finishing them off on the spot—corresponds to the typical characteristics of organized contract killings, a modality that the Observatory has identified in 34% of the cases of lethal violence against trans people registered since 2022. The precision of the attack and the plurality of impacts on the victims indicate prior planning and knowledge of the victims' movement route.
Karla was transported alive by ambulance to the nearest health center; however, medical reports confirmed her death minutes later, as a result of gunshot wounds that damaged vital organs. Carlos (unofficially known to be her partner) died instantly at the scene from direct gunshot wounds to the head. Both victims had migrated from Manabí to the province of Guayas, a context of internal displacement and forced migration that exposes transgender people to greater vulnerability and a lack of support networks.
Karla's gender identity is recognized on her Ecuadorian identity document as female, which is a central legal element for classifying the act as a possible transfemicide according to the standards established by the Runa Sipiy Observatory, Consultorio Jurídico X, Estudio Jurídico Rodríguez & Elias, and international human rights frameworks. The Observatory maintains this case under the category of "possible transfemicide" until the prosecutor's investigation determines whether hatred based on Karla's gender identity was a motivating factor in the attack.
[Editor's Note: The names of Karla and Carlos have been changed by the reporting group, apparently because of pending legal proceedings. Their actual social names have not been shared.]
Source: Centro de Apoyo a las Identidades Trans
https://siluetax.org/tag/crimen-de-odio-ecuador/
https://groups.google.com/g/AsociacionSiluetaX/c/Sc7Bg6A_bMU
