Ecuador: new bloody riot in a prison in Guayaquil, dozens of dead

The body of a prisoner surrounded by police on the roof of the penitentiary the day after the riots that broke out inside the prison in Guayaquil, Ecuador on November 13, 2021. AP - Jose Sanchez

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New clashes between inmate gangs in the Guayaquil penitentiary have left at least 68 dead.

Already at the end of September, 119 prisoners had perished in clashes between gangs, the worst massacre of prisoners in Latin American history.

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Violence between detainees began Friday evening in the large penitentiary center of Guayaquil.

Referring to scenes of great " 

", the chief of police, Tannya Varela indicated that the " 

 "

The intervention of the police to try to restore order in the prison "

", assured for his part Pablo Arosemena, governor of the province of Guayas, because on images diffused on the networks - of which the authenticity has not been confirmed from an independent source - inmates can be seen in the middle of the night in a courtyard inside the prison, beating with sticks at a pile of piled up, inanimate and moving bodies. to be consumed in flames. In another video, a prisoner locked in a pavilion called for help with repeated detonations in the background.

" 

 " said the prosecutor's office, which announced the opening of an investigation.

On September 28, 119 people died in the same circumstances in this same Guayas 1 prison. The 

in Ecuador's prison history and one of the worst in Latin America.

Some detainees had been dismembered, beheaded, or burned in violent clashes between gangs linked to drug trafficking and Mexican cartels.

Worsening of the prison crisis

After the killing of Friday evening, Ecuadorian President Guillermo Lasso proclaimed a “state of emergency” in the 65 Ecuadorian prisons, notably with the deployment of significant military reinforcements.

These prisons can accommodate 30,000 people, but are occupied by 39,000 prisoners, an overcrowding of 30%.

Weapons of all kinds, drugs and cell phones circulate there in large numbers.

They are the scene of a bloody rivalry between in particular the formidable Mexican cartels of Sinaloa and Jalisco Nueva Generacion.

Ecuador faces an increase in drug-related crime, with nearly 1,900 violent deaths since the start of the year, particularly in Guayaquil, a port city and economic center of the country.

In the huge prison on the outskirts of Guayaquil, which houses 8,500 inmates and whose overcrowding reaches 60% according to official figures, the violence has not stopped since the riots last September, despite multiple announcements and incessant communication from the government on this theme of the fight against insecurity.

After the September incidents, 15 other detainees were killed in different incidents.

With this new massacre, riots in Ecuadorian prisons have left more than 308 dead since the start of the year.

In February, 79 inmates died in

in four prisons.

In the early hours of Saturday morning, as was the case during the September 28 massacre, families of detainees gathered in front of the Guayaquil penitentiary, trying to hear from their loved ones or shouting in despair at the news of the death of one of them.

►

 (With

AFP

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