[ad_1]
Authorities said the deadly riot in Guayaquil prison was the worst in the country’s history.
The President of Ecuador declares a state of emergency in the prison system Fatal conflict Among gang members in coastal prisons, at least 116 people were killed and 80 were injured.
Officials said at least five dead were found beheaded in the violence at the Guayaquil Marina Prison on Tuesday, which the authorities said was the worst prison bloodbath in the country’s history.
Later on Wednesday, President Guillermo Lasso declared a state of emergency. It empowers the government, including the deployment of police and soldiers in prisons.
Lasso said at a press conference that he cannot guarantee that the authorities have regained control of the prison.
He called the bloodshed “bad and sad.”
“It is regrettable that prisons are being turned into territories of power disputes by criminal gangs,” he said, adding that he will act “absolutely firmly” to regain control of Binhai Prison and prevent the spread of violence to other prisons.
Soldiers guard the Marina Prison after the riots in Guayaquil prison in Ecuador [File: Angel DeJesus/AP Photo]Images circulating on social media show that there are dozens of bodies in the prison halls 9 and 10, and the scene looks like a battlefield. Officials said the fighting involved guns, knives and bombs.
Earlier, regional police commander Fausto Buenano (Fausto Buenano) had stated that the body was found in a prison tunnel.
Outside the prison morgue, relatives of prisoners were crying, and some people described to reporters the brutal behavior of their loved ones being killed, beheaded and mutilated.
Ledy Zuniga, the former chairman of the National Rehabilitation Council of Ecuador, said: “In the history of the country, there has not been an incident similar to or close to this.”
Zuniga, who served as the country’s attorney general in 2016, said she regretted that she did not take measures to prevent another massacre following the deadly prison riot in February last year.
Gang violence
Officials earlier stated that the violence was triggered by a dispute between the “Los Lobos” and “Los Choneros” prison gangs.
Colonel Mario Pazmino, the former head of the Ecuadorian Military Intelligence Agency, stated that the bloody battle showed that “transnational organized crime has penetrated the structure of Ecuador’s prisons”, adding that Mexico’s Sinaloa and Jalisco’s new generation Carter It operates through local gangs.
“They want to spread fear,” he told the Associated Press, urging the government to temporarily transfer control of the prison to the national police.
He added: “The more aggressive and violent the way they murder,” the more they can achieve their control goals.
The President of Ecuador stated that care points have been set up for relatives of prisoners, providing food and psychological support.
He added that a US$24 million project will be expedited to solve the country’s prison problems, starting with investing in the infrastructure and technology of the Litoral prison.
The violence on Tuesday was only the latest in a bloody year in the country’s prisons.
Previously, the deadliest day occurred in February, when riots broke out in three prisons in the country at the same time, and 79 prisoners died.
In July, the President decree After several violent incidents resulted in the killing of more than 100 prisoners, the prison system entered a state of emergency again.
These deaths occurred in different prisons, rather than in a single facility like the killing on Tuesday. At least 22 people were killed in Litoral prison.
Ecuador’s prison system has 65 facilities that can accommodate approximately 30,000 prisoners—but the country’s actual prison population is 39,000, and the system faces chronic staff shortages.
[ad_2]
Source link