This Sunday, Ecuadorian police arrested 68 suspected members of a criminal group that tried to take control of a hospital in Yaguachi, in Guayas (southwest), while thousands of soldiers were mobilized to crack down on drug traffickers.
The suspected criminals entered “with the aim of protecting a member of their organization who was brought in with injuries in the early hours of the morning,” the police said on the social network X.
Police also reported that they confiscated firearms and drugs during the operation. He also discovered a secret rehabilitation center “where” alleged members of the faction were hiding.
“This alleged rehabilitation center was the command center for all these people,” said local police chief Julio Camacho, adding that it also housed “a house of prostitution.”
Hundreds of secret rehabilitation centers that do not have adequate conditions to care for patients have been closed by Ecuadorian health authorities. Others have been the scene of tragic events, such as when 18 people died in a fire in 2019.
Several of these centers are linked to criminal groups and have been the target of armed attacks, while others have been viewed by human rights organizations as places of imprisonment and torture.