Clashes took place on the evening of Wednesday February 2 in the prison complex of Guayaquil, in the south-west of Ecuador, the scene of recurring violence which has left at least 180 dead in the past five months, we learned from official source. From “Clashes are recorded between neighborhoods” of the prison of Guayas 1, indicated at the end of the afternoon the Ecuadorian agency in charge of prisons (SNAI) on its Twitter account. The SNAI claimed to coordinate with the police and the armed forces “the entry of elite groups to strengthen security” in this part of the penitentiary.
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In the middle of the evening, the prison service assured that “the situation at #CPLGuayas No. 1 was under control thanks to the intervention of elite groups” of the police and the armed forces. The police “strengthens the seizure of firearms in the halls. Furthermore, in view of the events that have unfolded, the director of the center was removed from his post today”added the government service, without mentioning a victim.
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Shots and detonations
In the early evening, shots and detonations were audible around the prison, observed an AFP photographer on the spot, also noting strong fumes of tear gas. The SNAI also released photos of the special forces preparing to intervene in the prison.
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Guayaquil prison was the scene of violent riots and massacres between inmates which left some 320 dead in 2021. By September 29, 119 prisoners had been killed there, the worst massacre in a prison in Latin America. Some detainees had been dismembered, beheaded, or burned. Head of State Guillermo Lasso had declared a state of emergency in all the country’s prisons, ordering the intervention of the army. In mid-November, 62 other detainees died in the same prison in new violence between gangs, linked to drug trafficking.
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Ecuador has 65 prisons that can house 30,000 people but they house some 39,000 detainees, including 15,000 for whom sentences have not been pronounced.
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