Ecuador declares state of emergency after riots in prison
Soldiers guard the entrance to Sierra Centro Norte prison in Latacunga, Ecuador on July 22, 2021, after a riot.
AFP - RODRIGO BUENDIA
Text by: RFI Follow
3 min
The mutinies that took place on Wednesday left at least 27 people dead, authorities said on Friday.
A state of emergency has been declared by the president.
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With our correspondent in Ecuador,
Éric Samson
The mutinies that took place in two prisons on Wednesday left 27 dead, according to the latest report by Ecuadorian authorities.
After these riots, "
19 people deprived of their liberty are said to have died, including one by hanging
" in Cotopaxi prison (center), the prison service (SNAI) said on Twitter.
Eight people also died in Guayas penitentiary, southwest of
Ecuador
.
The mutinies also left 57 injured, including eight police officers, and one policewoman was sexually assaulted.
According to the governor of Cotopaxi, Oswaldo Coronel, on Wednesday, the rioters "
used large caliber firearms, as well as explosives which caused extensive damage inside the penitentiary
".
State of emergency declared
The violence of the mutinies that affected these two Ecuadorian prisons on Wednesday pushed
President Guillermo Lasso
to declare a state of emergency.
"
We are going to start a process of total restructuring of the prison system
", also declared the head of state, who replaced the director of the prison administration by a soldier.
He announced that the army would now be responsible for controlling access to prisons, while the police will guard the interior.
Until now, the security of prisons has been ensured by civilian prison guards.
He also issued a warning to the gangs of drug traffickers who clash in the prisons: his government "
will not be as lukewarm as the previous ones ... you will be defeated
".
The SNAI also specified that 86 detainees who had escaped were found, without however specifying the total number of people who had fled.
The prison system at the end of its rope
New massacres then, but old problems.
This is how to sum up this new outbreak of violence in the prisons of Latacunga and Guayaquil.
The equipment available to the rival gangs that clashed raises the question of control in the prisons.
Because in addition to the weapons, cellphones and drugs infiltrated by families during visits, there are also many guards who are bought, threatened, them and their families, even murdered if they refuse to close their eyes.
Overcrowding in prisons is also not new.
There are currently over 39,000 inmates, 9,000 more than the maximum capacity.
To relieve the pressure, the government will also allow the pre-release of 5,000 detainees at the end of their sentence.
On the one hand, there are more prisoners but on the other, less budget.
Today it is 85 million euros, less than what was available ten years ago for half the number of prisoners.
So there is no money to recruit or modernize the surveillance systems.
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Ecuador
Guillermo Lasso