Dispute between factions leaves at least 118 dead in Ecuadorian prison
Penitentiary conflicts in the city of Guayaquil began on Tuesday night (28/9); there are at least 118 dead and 80 injured
A clash between rival factions in a prison in the city of Guayaquil, Ecuador, left at least 118 dead and 80 wounded. All were detainees.
The conflicts and deaths occurred from Tuesday night (28/9), but only on Wednesday the Ecuadorian President Guillermo Lasso confirmed the death toll.
Lasso declared a "state of national exception throughout the prison system" after a meeting with Guayaquil's security committee.
"It is regrettable that prisons are becoming the territory of power disputes by criminal factions. The Ecuadorian State will act, we must act, and the first decision we take is to declare the state of emergency of the penitentiary system throughout Ecuador," he said the president at a press conference.Desperate family members of detainees went to the prison's surroundings to demand official information about victims and ask for protection to prevent further deaths. Some also went to a morgue south of Guayaquil in search of information about relatives.
Desperate families went around the prison to demand information about victims and ask for protection for detainees who survived
Grenades and Decapitations
Fausto Buenaño, commander of the local police, said on Tuesday that the gangs that clashed were trying to seize control of a prison pavilion.
Shots and explosions in several pavilions triggered authorities, who found bodies wounded by bullets and grenades.
The newspaper El Comercio reported that several victims were mutilated. In five cases there were decapitations. In others, limb cuts.
On Tuesday, the National Service for Comprehensive Attention to Adults Deprived of Liberty and Adolescent Offenders (SNAI) said the "incident had started due to conflicts between criminal gangs in a pavilion at the penitentiary center".
Relatives of inmates sought information at the Guayaquil prison and morgue
In an interview with FM Mundo radio, Bolívar Garzón, director of SNAI, declared: "It has not been easy. Yesterday (Tuesday) the police took control at 2 pm, but last night there were other shootings, explosions. This morning it was already we have taken full control and we are entering the pavilions involved in the conflict and discovering more bodies."
"It's really a tragedy, it's something tremendous what's happening — this struggle between organized criminal groups who, seeking internal power, reach these levels (of violence). The situation is really terrible," Garzón said.
This is the third major conflict recorded in an Ecuadorian prison in 2021.
The previous two took place in February and July and left 79 and 22 dead, respectively.
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