One of the seven prison riots that occurred simultaneously in Ecuador following the wave of attacks and incidents attributed to organized crime was brought under control in the early hours of this Friday a deceased prisonerwhile in the other six, 170 officials remain hostage.
The incidents in Machala prison in the southern province of El Oro on the border with Peru were “brought under control thanks to joint work with the armed forces,” said the National Service for Comprehensive Care of Adults Deprived of Liberty and Juveniles Offenders on Friday with (SNAI), the state corrections agency.
A group of inmates from that prison arrived late Thursday left out the lifeless body of another prisonerwhose body was removed for the appropriate investigations to determine the cause of death, the SNAI said.
The armed forces remain outside Machala Prison to resolve any problems, the SNAI said. According to this information, since Tuesday there have been riots in the prisons of the southern cities of Loja, Azogues and Cuenca, the central Latacunga and Ambato, and the northern Esmeraldas on the border with Colombia.
In these prisons there are A total of 170 officers were held prisoner, after eight of them were released in the last hours through various efforts in which the Church even intervened, as in the case of Esmeraldas. Among those still detained are 155 prison guards and 15 prison administrative staff members.
The simultaneous unrest in Ecuador's prisons was part of a day of terror and chaos that unfolded on Tuesday and was blamed on the organized crime mafia. These included bomb attacks, the kidnapping and murder of police officers and even the armed attack on a television station in the city of Guayaquil.
The events arise when the President's government Daniel Noboa He was preparing to implement his plan to regain control of Ecuador's prisons, many of which are internally dominated by these criminal groups, whose rivalries have led to the murder of more than 450 prisoners in a series of prison massacres since 2020.
This violence has spilled over into the streets, making Ecuador one of the most violent countries in the world, with 45 intentional homicides per 100,000 inhabitants in 2023. Following this week's incidents, the government declared “internal armed conflict” and classified these gangs as terrorist groups and military targets.