12 inmates killed in Ecuador prison riot
At least 12 people were killed in a riot yesterday in a prison in southern Ecuador, according to the media office of the country's president, in the latest bloody violence in the prisons of this South American country.
The office of President Guillermo Laso said the clashes inside El Torre prison in Cuenca resulted in "12 people who have been identified" and 10 others wounded.
Ecuador has made a major effort in recent years to contain gang-related prison violence, which killed 320 people in 2021.
Interior Minister Patricio Carrillo told reporters that the riots were "still out of control" and that 800 police and armed forces personnel had been mobilized to stop them.
The confrontations broke out at 1:30 am in the high security section of the prison.
By midday it was clear that the situation was still out of control, as inmates and police officers were seen on the rooftops.
The authorities evacuated about 90 inmates from the prison, stressing that no one will escape.
Kario confirmed that the violence is linked to gangs, revealing that "there is an organization that wants absolute control within the center (but) some cells have rebelled."
Carrillo wrote on Twitter earlier that Ecuador needs legal reforms to punish prison rioters.
Ecuador has 65 prisons with a capacity of about 30,000 inmates, but it suffers from overcrowding.
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