At least 15 inmates died and another 20 injured after a revolt in one of the largest prisons in Ecuador
, in Latin America, already the scene of deadly violence in the past.
This was announced by the prison administration of the South American country.
The prison is located in Cotopaxi, near the town of Latacunga, in the middle of the Andes.
The National Comprehensive Care Service (Sna), the institute that controls Ecuadorian prisons, initially announced six injured, then the tragic toll was updated, after being able to regain control of the facility.
The news would spread on local social networks that one of the deceased would be
Leandro Norero, accused of being the head of a gang of drug traffickers.
In several police searches after the clashes, the police found different types of
firearms, including rifles, as well as knives and large quantities of bullets.
To local media, the deputy director of Snai, Jorge Flores, explained that the incidents began after this Monday, when the inmates of the Latacunga prison were participating in the census carried out by the institute to collect data on the prison population of the country.
Then the fight broke out, degenerated into revolt.
Police departments, firefighters, and support teams of the armed forces intervened on the spot.
Several inmates took refuge on the roof of the building to try to avoid the problems recorded inside.
Ecuador has 36 prisons housing more than 32,000 inmates and in some of them more than 400 have been murdered since 2020 in several
clashes between rival criminal gangs vying for control of the prison centers.
In 2021, Ecuador seized a record 210 tons of drugs, mainly cocaine.
Bordered by Colombia and Peru, the world's largest cocaine producers, Ecuador serves as a port of departure for drug shipments, mainly to the United States and Europe.
Last year, the country of 17.7 million inhabitants
recorded a rate of 14 homicides per 100,000 people, almost double compared to 2020.
In August, the government of President Guillermo Lasso launched a census of prisoners to improve the conditions of life in the face of prison overcrowding.