The National Prison Office said Wednesday that more than 100 dead and 52 wounded have been confirmed so far Tuesday’s clashes in a prison in Guayaquil, in the west of the country. There were factory fights between the rival gangs Los Lobos and Los Choñeros.
The previously confirmed death toll was 30, but regional police chief Fausto Buinano said bodies found in prison drains were still being identified.
Five hours later, on Tuesday, the police and army retook control of the prison. The facility is surrounded by soldiers and armored vehicles. Ambulances stop in front of him and relatives of prisoners gather, waiting for news of relatives inside.
Col. Mario Pazmeno, a former director of Ecuadorean military intelligence, told the Palestinian Authority that the bloody fighting shows that “transnational organized crime has penetrated the structure” of the Ecuadorean prison system, adding that Mexican cartels Sinaloa and Jalisco New Generation operate through local gangs.
There are about 39,000 prisons in Ecuadorean prisons. prisoners. There were riots in several prisons in February and July. During the February riots in the prisons of Guayaquil, Cuenca and Latacunga, where 70% of people are held. Of the total number of prisoners, 79 people died. During the July events, 21 people were killed.
Ecuadorean President Guillermo Laso promised in August that authorities would allocate more money to improve the prison system. According to the plan presented by him, new prison yards were to be built, and the security and surveillance system was to be improved. However, changes in Ecuadorean prisons are being introduced too slowly to allow even partial release of overcrowded cells, Reuters writes.
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