Administrator of the Facebook news page Fernando TV, Álex Fernando Álvarez Vera, aged 28, was shot dead while playing football with friends. A man entered the venue, approached the journalist when he was alone near the goalpost and shot him multiple times. The attacker quickly fled by motorcycle, driven by an accomplice. The Attorney General of Guayas’ Office confirmed the opening of an investigation, without providing further details on the progress of the case. So far, no arrests have been made.

The Facebook page managed by Álex Fernando Álvarez Vera had more than 131,000 followers and over ten years of activity dedicated to sharing local news, citizen reports and public interest content. According to colleagues, the journalist often denounced local security issues and persistent problems with public infrastructure, and he was well known for his commitment to social issues. His family stated that “he had no enemies” and that his murder “remains a mystery.”

“Fernando TV provided important information in a territory with scarce media coverage. The murder of Álex Fernando Álvarez Vera, a clear case of armed violence, may deter other local journalists who use social media as their main format. RSF urges the Attorney General's Office to conduct a swift, serious and efficient investigation that considers his profession as a real motive for the murder. His family deserves answers and those responsible should face justice.

Álvarez’s murder highlights the extreme risks faced by local and digital journalists in Ecuador, particularly along the Pacific coast, where levels of violence, extortion and territorial control by criminal groups have directly affected journalists’ ability to report.

In the last eleven days, Salitre has recorded at least six contract-style killings, reflecting the deterioration of security in Guayas, one of the provinces most affected by the expansion of organised crime in the country. Ecuador ranks 74th out of the 180 countries and territories surveyed in the 2025 RSF World Press Freedom Index, and is experiencing an alarming decline in safety conditions for the press, as threats, forced displacement and murders have increased since 2023, when President Daniel Noboa took office. Despite the return to relatively normal relations between the government and certain sectors of the press, tensions and political polarisation have intensified once again.