There is no end to the violence in Ecuador’s prisons: once again, hostile gangs are involved in bloody clashes in a prison in the South American country. The gang members attack each other with naked weapons.
Leaders of gangs operating in Ecuador’s Bellavista prison are being transferred to other prisons after a riot at the prison overnight killed at least 44 people.
(dpa)
At least 44 people have died in violent clashes between hostile gangs in a prison in Ecuador. This was announced by the Attorney General of the South American country on Monday evening (local time). Interior Minister Patricio Carrillo said most of the victims in the Santo Domingo detention center were killed with blunt weapons. “What happened this morning in Santo Domingo prison is atrocious.”
The prison is now under the control of the security forces again, said police chief Fausto Salinas. Around 350 emergency services searched the prison for hours. Officers seized firearms, ammunition and grenades. Around 220 inmates escaped from the detention center during the riots. According to the authorities, 112 inmates have now been arrested again, and the search for the rest is ongoing.
Numerous relatives of inmates gathered in front of the gates of the prison in the north-west of the country and demanded information about the fate of their relatives. “My condolences go to the families and loved ones of those who died in the riots in Santo Domingo prison,” President Guillermo Lasso wrote on Twitter. “This is the unfortunate result of gang violence.”
Families of prisoners gather outside the Santo Domingo de los Tsachilas prison after the Ecuadorian authorities crushed the uprising and captured some of the escaped prisoners.
According to media reports, the background to the bloody fights were clashes between members of the Los Lobos gang and their R7 splinter group. Accordingly, a member of R7 had been transferred from another prison to the Santo Domingo detention center. This is said to have triggered the riots. Six gang leaders were taken to other prisons on Monday, the Interior Ministry said.
Prisoner mutinies and fights between hostile gangs are frequent in Ecuador. Over 200 people lost their lives last year. As a result, the federal police and armed forces took control of the prisons in the South American country. “We will not capitulate to the Mafias,” wrote Head of State Lasso on Twitter. “We are determined to restore order in the prisons.”
Like almost everywhere in Latin America, prisons in Ecuador are overcrowded. Many prisons are controlled by crime syndicates. Often the security forces only ensure that the prisoners stay in the detention centers. Inside the walls, the prisoners are largely left to themselves. Numerous imprisoned gang bosses run their criminal organizations from prison.