At least 27 inmates were found suffocated in a prison in Ecuador on Sunday afternoon after an armed riot that left four more dead and dozens injured that morning. This was announced by the local authorities, TASR reports according to the AFP agency.
- Riots broke out in the city of Machala, El Oro province, in the southwest of the country.
- Ecuadorian prisons are centers of conflict between drug gangs.
- The reason for the violence is the plan to move the convicts to a new prison.
- More than 500 prisoners in Ecuadorian prisons have already died in the clashes.
- At least 31 people have died in a prison in Ecuador after a riot.
Prison authorities said in a statement that they are still working to fully understand what happened in the prison in the city of Machala in the province of El Oro in the southwest of the country. Forensic personnel arrived at the scene.
Ecuadorian prisons have become operational centers for rival drug gangs. More than 500 prisoners have already died in their struggle for control over the lucrative illegal trade, AFP reported.
During Sunday’s violence in the prison in Machala local residents heard shooting, explosions and cries for help early in the morning from behind the walls. At the end of September, further armed clashes took place in this facility, during which 13 prisoners and a guard lost their lives.
It is assumed that the violence is linked to plans to move some inmates to a new maximum security prison, which was built by the government of President Daniel Nobou in another province and which should open this month.
