At least 30 killed in gang clashes in Guayaquil Ecuador prison

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – At least 30 prisoners have died, and 47 have been injured on Tuesday (28) in clashes between gangs in prison in the Ecuadorian province of Guayas, according to the National Service of Integral Attention to Persons Deprived of Liberty (SNAI) and the Ecuadorian Police.

The disturbances began at 9:30 AM local time at the Number 1 Detention Center, located in the provincial capital, Guayaquil, with gunshots and explosions in several wards in the context of a confrontation between criminal gangs.

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Authorities have activated security protocols and evacuated the prison’s administrative staff while installing a crisis committee formed by the National Police and SNAI to deal with the situation.

At around 10:40 AM, approximately 400 uniformed officers entered the center and managed to regain control of the prison after more than three hours. However, at about 11.30 PM, the police activated the security protocol again with tactical units in prison after detecting new clashes.

So far, 30 prisoners have been killed in the riots, five of them decapitated, while 47 have been injured, according to the latest police report, reported by the Ecuadorian newspaper ‘El Universo’. The first report of the SNAI pointed to 24 deaths, thus increasing the death toll.

In addition, two policemen were injured in the takeover of the prison, have been transferred to hospitals, and are “out of danger”, according to the police commander of Zone 8, Fausto Buenaño.

According to the police, the prisoners of pavilions 8 and 9 attacked the inmates of pavilion 5 of the prison. Specifically, according to a preliminary investigation, the gangs involved were ‘Los Choneros’, ‘Los Lagartos’ and ‘Los Tiguerones’.

During the riots, the Transit Commission of Ecuador (CTE) has restricted traffic in the surrounding area to facilitate the actions of the police and military units that have come to the site.

Likewise, nearby businesses have closed their doors, and passers-by have sought refuge as stray bullets from the prison clashes are reported to have left the premises, reports ‘El Universo’.

The Guayas Prosecutor’s Office has reportedly launched an investigation into the deaths of the inmates.

EMERGENCY IN THE PRISON SYSTEM

More than a hundred people have died in the country’s seven prisons this year, with one of the largest massacres last February 23 in Libertad Zonal 8 and Sierra Centro Norte prisons, in Cotopaxi province, and Cuenca, in Azuay province, which resulted in 80 lifeless inmates.

In July, Ecuador’s president, Guillermo Lasso, declared a state of emergency in the country’s prison system and changed the director of SNAI to Fausto Cobo.

However, the Ecuadorian president appointed Cobo as the new director of the Strategic Intelligence Center on Monday, so Colonel Bolivar Garzon, former head of the Cotopaxi prison, has been appointed to head the SNAI, reports the Ecuadorian newspaper ‘El Commercio.