At least six inmates have been killed and 11 injured in a fresh clash between gangs at a prison in Ecuador, the prison administration of that country, which suffers from drug trafficking, said on Sunday.
• Also read: Oil spill on a tourist beach in Ecuador
• Also read: At least ten dead in two shootings in Ecuador
“The number of prisoners who died is six,” the prison administration (SNAI) said in a press release after the violence in Guayas 1 prison.
The injured were taken to the hospital, said this service on the grounds that they were out of danger.
AFP
Relatives of prisoners waited all day for news. In front of the prison, where soldiers, police and ambulances were on the move, relatives of prisoners were waiting for news.
“I’m desperate here, I’d like information but I don’t have it,” a woman whose son is in prison told AFP and asked not to be identified.
Ecuadorian prisons have become home to criminal gangs competing for the drug market. A dozen such clashes have occurred since February 2021, killing more than 420 people, including dozens burned alive or dying of mutilation.
The SNAI had previously ordered security to be tightened in all prisons in the country with the help of the police and army.
Interior Minister Juan Zapata tweeted that the protocols to monitor and implement strategies for the control, order and security of detainees are “operational”.
This measure was decided after earlier clashes in Guayas 1 in Guayaquil, a city in western Ecuador most affected by violence and drug trafficking.
The SNAI reported that in four other prisons in the country, in Cotopaxi, Azuay, Cañar and El Oro provinces, “security agents are being held hostage” by members of criminal groups.
“The security authorities are taking measures to release them and return to normal,” the organization said, adding that they are in good health.
AFP
During the course of Sunday, prisoners in several Ecuadorian prisons joined hunger strike movements, the prison authorities again said without giving reasons.
According to a recent census, 31,321 people, including 3,245 foreigners, are being held in Ecuador’s 30,000-capacity prisons.
The majority of prisoners are held in drug trafficking, with Ecuador being one of the world’s top cocaine producers alongside Colombia and Peru.