A confrontation between rival gangs of the Number 1 Center for the Deprivation of Liberty in Guayaquil, Ecuador, left at least 116 dead and dozens injured.
The death toll was confirmed in the afternoon of this Wednesday by the Ecuadorian president, Guillermo Lasso, who chaired in Guayaquil the meeting of the security committee that evaluates the prison situation after the massacre in the Litoral Penitentiary.
What happened led to Lasso will declare the “state of national exception throughout the prison system.”
At a press conference the president reported a total of 86 deceased and close to 80 wounded, all prisoners.
of power disputes by criminal gangs. The Ecuadorian State is going to act, we must act, and the first decision we have made is to declare the state of exception of the prison system of the entire Ecuadorian territory, ”he said.
Lasso acknowledged that the authorities have not yet retaken control of the prison where the clashes occurred, which they hope will happen in the next few hours.
Grenades and beheadings
Fausto Buenaño, commander of the Zone 8 police, based in Guayaquil, detailed on Tuesday that the gangs that clashed were seeking to take control of a prison wing.
Detonations of firearms and explosions in several blocks triggered the authorities’ alerts .
During the intervention, the agents found bodies with bullet wounds and effects of grenades in the penitentiary pavilions .
The newspaper El Comercio reported that several victims were mutilated. In five cases there were beheadings. In others, limb cuts.
“The incident began due to fights between criminal gangs, in a pavilion of the penitentiary center,” explained on Tuesday the National Service for Comprehensive Care for Adults deprived of Freedom and Teen Offenders (SNAI).
“A tragedy”
The relatives of the deceased went this Wednesday to a morgue in the south of Guayaquil to which they took the corpses of the prisoners.
El Comercio also reports that relatives of inmates also arrived at the prison where the violent clashes occurred to demand official information from the victims, a detailed list and the protection to avoid more murders.
Bolívar Garzón, director of the SNAI, assured in statements to the FM Mundo network: “It has not been easy, yesterday (Tuesday) the Police took control at 14: , but last night there were other shootings, things, explosions, and today we are taking full control tomorrow, we are entering the pavilions of the conflict and discovering more corpses. ”
“ It really is a tragedy, something tremendous what is happening, this fight among organized criminal groups that in the search for internal power reach these levels, the situation is really terrible, “said the director of SNAI.
This is the third riot registered in a prison in Ecuador so far since 2021.
The previous two occurred in February and July and left 79 and 22 dead, respectively.
The organization Human Rights Watch asked the government of Ecuador to investigate and identify those responsible for the violence in the prisons.
“Corruption” and “overcrowding”
Silvana Tapia, an Ecuadorian researcher and activist for the organization Alliance against prisons, told BBC Mundo that episodes like the one in Guayaquil “do not occur without a long and long history. behind and, above all, they do not occur without the participation of the State. ”
Tapia assures that“ there is high corruption in the penitentiary officials ”in Ecuador and asks“ to seriously question the origin of the weapons that it is being used in these bloody events. ”
She also points to overcrowding as a “crucial factor” to explain what happened, since, according to her, “all the prisons in the country are above their capacity and do not allow a life in decent conditions ”.
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