The fatal fate of Landy Párraga, Ecuadorian beauty queen

Landy Párraga, an Ecuadorian beauty queen, has been murdered by two hitmen who entered a shopping center restaurant on April 29. In a matter of seconds, the gunmen approached her, who was standing next to a table and another person, shot her up to three times and ran away. Párraga was a beauty queen who had participated in Miss Ecuador.

The model was very active on Instagram, where she had 172,000 followers. She also owned a well-known home goods store and a sportswear brand. She lived in the city of Quevedo, southeast of Quito, the capital. She was mentioned in conversations obtained from the phone of Ecuadorian drug trafficker Leandro Norero, alias The boss, who was allegedly murdered by an enemy gang in prison.

Years ago, Norero had simulated his death from covid-19. The authorities found him and imprisoned him. Later, his body was burned in the riot in which he died, according to the official version. However, there was never reliable evidence, his DNA was not in any database. His fame as an escape artist aroused suspicion. To avoid these confusing cases, the Government of Daniel Noboa began to collect genetic evidence from prisoners, although illegally: they were not informed what it was for, because it could be used to identify them after a massacre, but also to implicate them in others. crimes of the past. When EL PAÍS made this revelation, sampling stopped and has not been resumed to this day.

Noreno’s conversations in which he cited Párraga were within the Metastasis case, the investigation of a criminal network in charge of corrupting Ecuadorian State officials. Dozens of people have been prosecuted for giving money in exchange for favors to judges, police and jailers. Not just anyone, but the main heads of those structures. The case continues to be investigated in court.

Daniel Noboa became president five months ago. He found a country mired in corruption and violence that had eaten away at the country in just three years: in previous times, Ecuador was one of the safest nations in South America. However, gangs have taken control of the drug trafficking business and, in alliance with Mexican cartels, the country is now the world’s leading cocaine exporter. The port of Guayaquil is the center of these large-scale operations. Last year the year closed with 40 murders per 100,000 inhabitants, one of the highest rates in the region.

After a weekend of violence in February, Noboa decreed a state of emergency with which he took the military to the streets and confronted organized crime in a warlike manner. According to data from the first months of this year, he managed to reduce homicides by half, although the murders of politicians, prison escapes and massacres have continued. Without going that far, a month ago 80 people were murdered in just 24 hours. The suspension of civil liberties has been accompanied by abuses of the population by the police and the military.

Párraga’s murder has had a huge impact in Ecuador, partly due to his popularity and partly because of the images of the murder, which have been recorded on the restaurant’s security cameras. In the message that was intercepted from the drug trafficker, it is implied that he had a relationship with the model that he feared his wife would find out about.

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