Ecuadorian journalist shot after receiving reported false news tip 

Bogotá, March 20, 2026—Ecuadorian authorities must swiftly and comprehensively investigate the shooting of journalist José Vinces Oviedo in the southern city of Huaquillas and hold those responsible to account, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Friday.

“We urge authorities to swiftly and credibly investigate the shooting of journalist José Vinces Oviedo in Huaquillas, determine whether the attack was linked to his reporting, and hold those responsible to account,” said José Zamora, CPJ’s Regional Director for the Americas.

After he received a news tip about the discovery of two human skulls in a graveyard, Vinces went to the Huaquillas cemetery on Tuesday where two gunmen on a motorcycle opened fire at him. Vinces was wounded in the stomach but told CPJ that his microphone helped stop the bullet and that he had been treated and released Wednesday from a Huaquillas clinic.

“They shot at me 10 times but thank god I was only struck by one of the bullets,” Vinces told CPJ.

Huaquillas police chief Diego Chávez told reporters that Vinces had been tricked into going to the cemetery by a false news tip and that a cemetery worker had also been wounded in the shooting. 

Vinces, 44, is the founder of Vinces TV, which transmits news about Huanquillas on Facebook, YouTube and Tik Tok. He often reports on crime and local government corruption and is a frequent critic of Huaquillas Mayor Florencio Farez.

CPJ sought comment from the Ecuador Attorney General’s office on the status of the investigation into the attack but there was no immediate response.

The attack on Vinces occurred amid a crime wave in Ecuador that prompted authorities on Wednesday to declare a state of exception and an 11 p.m. curfew in four of the country’s provinces and to dispatch 65,000 police and army troops to the zone, which includes Huaquillas.