The alarm was sounded after midday outside El Inca prison, located in a densely populated area north of Quito, the capital of Ecuador. Helicopters flew over the prison while ambulances rolled in to take care of the wounded and dead. Inside, another prison massacre. According to the latest report from the National Service for Persons Deprived of Liberty (SNAI), at least ten prisoners have been murdered.
The Ecuadorian government linked the massacre to retaliation for the operation, which began at dawn on November 18, to transfer Jonathan Bermúdez, aka Primo, to another prison, La Roca, in Guayaquil. Bermúdez is the leader of the Los Lobos criminal gang and was held in El Inca on charges of directing violent crimes in the streets and previous prison riots from the same center.
A soldier inspects belongings confiscated from prisoners National Service for Persons Deprived of Liberty
Three other prisoners who would have directed the El Inca massacre were also transferred to La Roca, as was the leader of the R7 gang, aka Anchundia, who authorities say is the mastermind behind the massacre of 44 prisoners last May 9 in the center of Bellavista, in the province of Santo Domingo. Anchundia had managed to judicially trick him out of La Roca, through a precautionary measure that allowed a judge to take him back to central Bellavista. “After the events were recorded, tactical groups from the National Police and Armed Forces entered the center to regain control,” the SNAI reported.
La Roca was built as a maximum security prison in 2008 amid disputes between former Guayaquil Mayor Jaime Nebot and Rafael Correa’s government. Finally, in 2010, it was handed over to the Department of Justice for administration. But it only worked until 2013, when 19 inmates escaped, demonstrating the vulnerabilities of what was considered an untouchable structure.
Soldiers stand guard at the door of El Inca prison Dolores Ochoa (AP)
Subscribe to EL PAÍS to follow all the news and read without limits.
Subscribe to
The building remained closed until a year ago, when the government announced it would convert it to send dangerous prisoners from other prisons and isolate the leaders of the massacres. In La Roca, inmates are said to remain incommunicado in their cells for 23 hours a day and in a small yard for just one hour a day, while being guarded by elite police forces.
The prison crisis in Ecuador adds up to around 413 prisoners killed in 15 massacres that have taken place in prisons since February 2021.
Subscribe to the EL PAÍS America newsletter here and receive all the latest news from the region.