The figures are shocking and the images of the intra-prison violence that broke out on Tuesday in several prisons in Ecuador, even more so.
At least 79 inmates died in clashes between members of rival gangs mutinied in prisons in Cuenca, Guayaquil and Latacunga, more than all the deaths registered last year in the 48 prisons in the country.
And the fury and extreme violence of its members became evident in the images of decapitated and dismembered bodies that soon began to circulate on social networks.
“What happened today is unprecedented,” said the former mayor of Cuenca, Marcelo Cabrera, referring to the 34 deaths that occurred in the El Turi prison, one of the most affected.
“This it is awful. Turi does not let me work in peace ”, was the summary of the feelings made by an inhabitant of Cuenca, in statements collected by the newspaper El Comercio, with residents of Cotopaxi, Guayaquil and many other cities in Ecuador declaring themselves equally shocked.
The South American country is no stranger to violence in its prisons : to contain it, President Lenín Moreno had
But, what came together for Ecuador to experience the worst prison massacre of its history this Tuesday? toria?
1. Increase in drug trafficking
According to the Ecuadorian media, five criminal gangs are behind the bloody events on Tuesday.
It is about Los Pipos, Los Lobos, Los Chone Killers, Los Tiguerones and Los Choneros , who dispute the vacant leadership since the death of the leader of the latter group, Jorge Luis Zambrano, “Rasquiña”.
As explained by the specialized portal Insight Crime, Ecuadorian criminal groups traditionally operate in a fragmented manner , acting primarily as subcontractors for foreign criminal organizations.
But Zambrano, who was murdered in a shopping center last December shortly after his release from prison, he had managed to establish alliances with several of the organizations aforementioned criminal offenses.
These alliances, however, did not survive the death of “Rasquiña” , whose organization also had a dispute with another criminal group: Los Lagartos.
And when the leaders of the aforementioned groups “found out that their bosses were going to be attacked with firearms, they stood up immediately,” explains the newspaper El Comercio , citing the investigators of Tuesday’s clashes.
“We expected an immediate reaction after the murder of ‘Rasquiña’, but it was delayed,” said the director of the National Service of Attention to Persons Deprived of Liberty, Snai , Edmundo Moncayo.
And the Minister of Government, Patricio Pazmiño, denounced “a concerted action of cri final ”.
What the Ecuadorian bands dispute is not just any thing. As Insight Crime also highlights, in recent years Ecuador has become the “highway for cocaine to the United States and Europe.”
According to anti-narcotics sources cited by the portal, as a result of the changes in the strategy of Colombian drug traffickers, “ more than a third of the growing cocaine production in Colombia currently reaches Ecuador.”
Y Ecuadorian journalists María Belén Arroyo and Arturo Torres, authors of a book on the subject, estimate that some 500 tons of drugs leave Ecuador each year abroad.
two. Austerity
The increase in drug trafficking has also translated into an increase in Ecuador’s prison population, which has not been corresponded with an improvement in supervision and surveillance capacities.
Rather, as part of the austerity plans agreed with the International Monetary Fund , these sectors have also been affected by the cuts that at the time generated a wave of protests.
A One of the consequences of the lack of resources is that, according to Snai’s own calculations, the deficit in the personnel in charge of guaranteeing security the number of prisons is 70%.
According to the Primicias portal, in Ecuador a prison guide should take care of almost 27 inmates , when the international standard recommends a ratio of one to every nine.
And that may help explain the relative impunity with which drug traffickers operate from jails, as well as the abundant weapons they were able to resort to during the events of Tuesday.
Lack of staff is also one of the reasons for the declarations of state of exception of 2019 Y 2020, since the measure allowed the mobilization of army troops to confront the violence in Ecuadorian prisons.
But in October of last year, the Constitutional Court Onal prohibited continuing to use this resource to face the prison crisis, ordering instead the development of a plan that according to Eduardo Moncayo could not be implemented due to lack of resources.
“We need a greater financial effort “, acknowledged the director of Snai.
As Primicias explains, this is not the first time that austerity intervenes in the need to reform the Ecuadorian prison system.
According to the portal, in June 2019 the government approved the so-called Social Rehabilitation System Transformation Project, which required a investment of US $ 38 , 8 million .
“The first US $ 1.7 million were spent on 2019. And other US $ 19, 1 million should have been used in 2020. However, between February and May of that year, the Ministry of Finance made three cuts to the program for more than 70%. The budget was US $ 1.8 million ”, reported Primicias.
3. Overcrowding
All of the above is also expressed in levels of overcrowding that, although they have been reduced compared to previous years, They continue to hinder the proper management of Ecuadorian prisons.
According to the Permanent Committee for the Defense of Human Rights (CDH), the Ecuadorian prison capacity is 27. 500 persons.
But in May of 2019, when the government decreed the first state of exception, the number of inmates totaled 41. 836, a overcrowding of the 42% .
Since then to date, the number has been reduced substantially, with the government speeding up the granting of prison benefits and requesting the courts to limit preventive prisons to minimize the risks of contagion from covid – 19 during the current pandemic.
But, still, the approximately 38. 000 prisoners counted by the Snai suppose a overcrowding of the 33%.
And the prisons of Cuenca, Guayaquil and Latacunga concentrate the 70% of all those inmates.
As Insight Crime explains, the overcrowding of prisons is a regional phenomenon that results in rights problems human rights and in the lack of control over prison systems.
And by forcing members of rival gangs to be admitted to the same centers, it also contributed to the bloody clashes on Tuesday.
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