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QUITO (AP) — A riot at a regional prison in Guayaquil that left two inmates dead and four injured was brought under control by police Thursday.
“Control has already been taken and all we are doing is confirming the condition of the injured,” Gen. Victor Herrera, police commander of Zone 8, which includes Guayaquil, told The Associated Press.
The riot occurred despite the fact that the prison is under the control of the armed forces and police and the country is under a state of emergency due to recent violence by illegal groups.
Herrera assured that it was still being verified whether the prisoners died from gunshot wounds or stab wounds.
Asked which group sparked the riots and the cause, he recalled that prisoners of the so-called Los Choneros gang, led by drug trafficking kingpin Adolfo Macias, alias “Fito”, were released that January. Had escaped from jail.
The commander commented, “The reason for this is dissatisfaction with the police and military presence.”
The prison riot occurred on Wednesday night, when inmates set mattresses on fire amid screaming screams and apparent bursts of firearms, according to video broadcast by national media and taken from inside the prison.
On Thursday, there was tight military and police security at the facility and relatives of prisoners outside demanding information.
Earlier, the deputy minister of security, Leonel Calderón, told the Teleamazonas television channel that the incidents are “an attempt to destabilize democracy” and are the result of the government’s actions to prevent criminal acts directed by organized crime from prison centers.
In the early hours of the morning, the armed forces released photographs of the prison on their social network accounts, which are repeated every time there is an intervention in the prison.
The search for weapons, ammunition, explosives, drugs and all range of prohibited items is permanent.
According to information received from the penitentiary system’s governing body, there are 4,302 inmates lodged in that prison and its capacity is 4,505 inmates.
Following the escape, nicknamed “Fito”, which sparked a wave of violence including the takeover of a live television channel by armed individuals, President Daniel Ngoba ordered a state of emergency and internal armed conflict and identified 22 criminal groups. Organized as “terrorists” and turned them into “military objectives”.
The prison crisis and wave of violence in the Andean country has worsened since 2021, when bloody clashes broke out that have so far killed nearly 500 prisoners.
