Photo: RODRIGO BUENDIA / AFP / Getty Images
A group of 57 police officers and prison guards continued to be held on Thursday inside the prison in the Andean city of Cuenca, in Ecuador, where since Wednesday the prisoners have been mutinying against the interventions of state forces to disarm the criminal gangs they control internally. the prisons.
In a press conference, the Minister of the Interior, Juan Zapata, explained that among those detained there are 50 guards and 7 policemen inside the Turi prison, as the prison in Cuenca, capital of the Andean province of Azuay, is also known. , located in southern Ecuador.
On social networks, a video allegedly recorded from inside the Cuenca prison went viral, apparently by the police and prison guards detained where they appealed to the Government to find a solution that allows their release.
In this recording, one of the spokespersons, who identifies himself as Police Lieutenant Alonso Quintana, asked the Executive “not to make decisions that violate the human rights of persons deprived of liberty,” while another person, in the uniform of the prison guards, he says there are about 30 prison officials in this situation.
#International | More than 24 hours have elapsed since the riot in the Cuenca prison in #Ecuador where the inmates are holding a group of police officers and guards; 400 soldiers and 200 police officers are deployed around the prison. pic.twitter.com/KpFkhWnci6
— Adela Micha (@Adela_Micha) August 31, 2023
Deployment of security forces
Around the detention center there are 400 soldiers and 200 police officers who have not entered the compound since Wednesday.
“We are concerned about the safety of our officials, both police officers and prison agents,” acknowledged Zapata, who affirmed that the authorities are handling a line of action to safeguard the integrity of the detainees, although he said that he could not reveal it for security reasons.
The riot in the Cuenca prison, officially known as the Number 1 Deprivation of Liberty Center, began as a protest against the intervention that the Police and the Armed Forces carried out on Wednesday in the Latacunga prison, in the Andean province of Cotopaxi.
Simultaneously, another riot was also reported in the Azogues prison, capital of the province of Cañar, adjacent to Azuay, without the authorities having indicated at the moment that there are people being held by the prisoners inside.
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