Gang clash leaves 24 dead and nearly 50 injured in Ecuadorian prison

At least 24 inmates died and 49 others were injured after riot recorded this Tuesday at the Center for Deprivation of Liberty number 1 in the coastal city of Guayaquil, in southwest Ecuador, apparently due to a clash between gangs vying for control of this prison.

Guayaquil-based Zone 8 Police Commander Fausto Buenaño said after the entry of the tactical units of the entity in said prison, they found five bodies in the first four pavilions intervened, but that in the fifth, where the confrontation was concentrated, They found 19 more dead from projectiles and the effect of high explosive grenades.

Buenaño also said that 49 wounded were recorded who were transferred outside the prison, be assisted by paramedics.

For his part, the governor (representative of the Executive) of the province of Guayas, Pablo Arosemena, indicated that Order was restored in the Litoral penitentiary after the incidents recorded in the morning.

The governor clarified that “The police tactical units succeeded in restoring order” and he pointed out that vehicle traffic in the area where the prison is located has also been normalized, an activity that was suspended as a precaution during the riot.

For its part, the Police, in their Twitter profile, indicated that meticulous searches have been carried out inside several pavilions of the penitentiary of Guayaquil, thanks to the action of the entity’s tactical units.

Police actions were carried out in coordination with the National Service for Global Attention to Adult Staff Deprived of Liberty and Adolescent Offenders (SNAI), an entity which, a few hours earlier, had warned that “The incident started because of fights between criminal gangs, in a pavilion of the penitentiary center.”

On September 22, the Ecuadorian police, during a search of the Guayaquil prison, seized three firearms, 150 ammunition, a grenade, 12 sticks of dynamite and drugs, among other evidence.

The SNAI then assured that it They had found “improvised explosive devices”, a “handy” radio, 16 cell phones, 27 knives, five automatic weapon magazines and more than 200 ammunition of various calibers.

Ecuador’s prison system is in crisis and the government announced last month that it would allocate $ 75 million over the next four years to try to resolve the situation.

In one of the recent acts of violence, On September 13, another prison in the coastal province of Guayas was attacked by drones from abroad, which caused three explosions and affected the roof of the center.

This Tuesday’s event, in addition, It came a day after SNAI director Fausto Cobo announced his resignation from his post to take up another post of President Guillermo Lasso. in a business intelligence unit.

Cobo had pointed out, during the takeover of SNAI, that frequent clashes in Ecuadorian prisons were due to struggles between drug cartels, that local criminal gangs used to maintain control of prisons and certain areas used in illegal drug trafficking operations.

(With information from EFE)

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