The prison in question has 10,000 prisoners
A clash between prisoners left at least 15 dead and 14 injured in Ecuador’s largest and most dangerous prison, according to local authorities. It happened Tuesday.
The acts of violence began at 03:00 local time. The sound of gunshots and explosions echoed through the corridors as violence unleashed brutality.
This prison, which is on the outskirts of the coastal city of Guayaquil, has a history of violent riots. In 2021, it was the scene of a massacre that resulted in 119 deaths and, in January of this year, a series of coordinated riots in several prisons – triggered after the escape of the country’s most dangerous criminal, known as Fito – led to the taking of 150 prison guards hostage, resulting in the death of one officer.
Local media reported that helicopters flew over the prison while ambulances and relatives of prisoners, some of them screaming in despair for their families, ran to the gates.
This prison episode should intensify the dispute for the presidency of Ecuador, where the current president, Daniel Noboa, has focused on improving security, including within prisons, as one of his main priorities in the race for re-election next year.
Ecuadorian prisons have become true war zones, the deadliest in Latin America. Overcrowding, combined with corruption and weak state supervision, allowed criminal factions, armed and linked to Colombian and Mexican drug trafficking, to dominate prisons.
