In the spotlight: 20 dead in clashes between gangs in a prison in Ecuador
Police take position on the roof of El Turi prison after a riot that left 20 people dead in the prison of Cuenca, Ecuador, Sunday, April 3, 2022. AP - Marcelo Suquilanda
Text by: Stefanie Schüler Follow
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Clashes between rival gangs inside a high security prison.
Ecuador is regularly confronted with this problem.
Again this Sunday, violence broke out at the El Turi prison center in Cuenca, in the south of the country.
And once again, the toll is heavy: we are talking about at least 20 dead.
Five of the remains found by the police were even mutilated, reports the Ecuadorian Minister of the Interior in the columns of
El Comercio
.
Patricio Carrillo specifies that “
at the origin of this violence, which broke out in the early morning of this Sunday, there was a power struggle between members of different gangs.
One of them is trying to take full control over all the inmates in the prison
”.
Eight hundred police officers and 200 soldiers were mobilized to restore order in the penitentiary centre.
Authorities announced late last night that they had regained control of El Turi.
But the Expreso
newspaper
reports that the police are still on site.
“
They comb through every cell looking for weapons.
Detainees who were not involved in the violence, especially women, are evacuated to other prisons
”.
The Ecuadorian government has expressed "
its condolences to the families of the deceased and announced that it will bear the cost of the coffins
", announces the daily
La Hora
.
Salvador: more than
5,000 members of the Maras arrested in one week
Violence in Ecuadorian prisons is also due to prison overcrowding.
A problem which also exists in El Salvador and which has further increased last week.
In seven days, the army and the police arrested more than 5,000 members of criminal gangs, the infamous “Maras”.
"
5,184 gang members have been captured throughout the country
," reveals the daily
El Salvador
, which today publishes shocking photos: we see men whose bodies are covered with tattoos as a sign of belonging to a Mara, dressed in a simple underpants, chained to each other in a long line within a prison or squeezed by the dozens in tiny cells.
This is President Nayib Bukele's response to a wave of homicides a week ago when 87 people in El Salvador were killed by Maras.
Since then, the head of state has also cracked down on the 16,000 members of these gangs already imprisoned.
“
They are going to suffer for the crimes they have committed
,” warns the director of penitentiary centers in El Salvador, Osiris Luna, in the newspaper
El Mundo
.
"
These detainees are now sleeping on the floor, mattresses and sheets have been taken away from them as well as hygiene items, they are only entitled to two meals a day, can no longer leave their cells, nor receive visits
”.
And it is in this context that the deputies of the presidential party are proposing a law which, if adopted, would introduce the death penalty.
Because, according to one of these elected officials, interviewed by the news site
Contra Punto
, “
gang members don't understand reintegration, they can't adapt to a new way of life.
The only thing that can stop them is risking the death penalty
.”
"
A large majority of Salvadorans approve of these measures adopted to combat gang violence
", wants to believe
Ultima Hora
.
Only the newspaper
La Prensa Grafica
today dares to make a critical note: "
declaring a state of emergency does not mean the suspension of the rule of law
", exclaims the editorialist who continues: "
All these exceptional legal measures will not make us forget that what is sorely lacking is a global strategy.
A strategy capable of guaranteeing the security of Salvadorans and the control of the national territory while respecting the rights enshrined in our Constitution
”.
►
To read also: Salvador: 62 homicides in a single day, the state of emergency established
Colombia: what happened last week in Putumayo?
A week ago, in Colombia, the army carried out an operation against the dissidents of the FARC guerrillas.
Eleven people were killed in the Putumayo department.
All are guerrillas, maintains the Colombian government.
False, exclaim the families of the victims: seven of the eleven people who died during the military operation were civilians, among them natives and a teenager.
"
Why is there such a difference between the government's version and that of indigenous organizations and human rights defenders
", wonders the editorialist of
El Espectador
who demands "
urgently the opening of an independent international investigation
”.
►
To read also:
Colombia: a gigantic mudslide kills at least 200 people in Mocoa
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