…Researched and contributed by Solomon Thomas.
A funeral for an alleged drug gang member took a controversial turn when a stripper performed a raunchy dance on top of the man’s coffin in Milagro, Ecuador.
The funeral was held in a “brothel” and took place in the morning, with the man formally laid to rest later in the day.
The deceased, known as “Chiguilo,” was allegedly a member of a criminal gang and was killed by hitmen from a rival group.
Video clips from the event show mourners brandishing firearms and making gang-signs, firing off a fusillade of shots to mark the passing of their fallen comrade.
The Ecuadorian authorities had not commented on the event at the time of reporting.
The country’s president, Guillermo Lasso, has declared recent attacks on police by increasingly-powerful drug gangs as “a declaration of open war against the rule of law, the government, and against all of you, the citizens.”
Mexican drug cartels have spread into Ecuador and their brutal style of doing business, including massive shootouts and brutal beheadings, has come with them.
The country’s cocaine trade’s battles between gangs fighting for control have led to a serious breakdown in law and order, with prison riots and deadly clashes between prisoners of rival gangs.
Despite police arrests, the violence continues in the jails.
Ecuador’s police seized a record 190 tonnes of drugs last year, mostly cocaine.
There was no official comment on the funeral’s raunchy send-off.