Officials stated that at least five of those who died were beheaded.
Wednesday’s declaration by President Guillermo Lasso of a state emergency will allow the government to deploy soldiers and police inside prisons. Officials blamed gangs associated with international drug cartels for the violence at Guayaquil’s Litoral penitentiary.
Lasso was visibly affected by the carnage and said that he couldn’t guarantee that authorities have regained control.
He said that it was regrettable that prisons have been turned into power-distribution areas by criminal gangs. He also stated that he would act with “absolute fermeness” to regain control over Litoral prison and stop the violence spreading to other penitentiaries.
Social media images showed many bodies inside the prison’s Pavilions 9, 10, and scenes that looked almost like battlegrounds. Officials said that the fighting took place with bombs, knives, and firearms. Fausto Buenano, the regional police commander, had earlier stated that bodies were being discovered in the prison’s pipes.
The relatives of prisoners wept outside the prison morgue. Some described to reporters the cruelty with the which their loved ones had been killed, decapitated, and dismembered.
Ledy Zuniga, former president of Ecuador’s National Rehabilitation Council, stated that “In Ecuador’s history, there hasn’t been an incident comparable or close to this one.”
Zuniga was also the country’s justice minister in 2016. She said that she regretted not taking steps to prevent another massacre after deadly prison riots last Feb.
Officials earlier said that violence broke out due to a dispute between “Los Lobos,” and “Los Choneros,” prison gangs.
Col. Mario Pazmino was the ex-director of Ecuador’s military intelligence. He said that the bloody fighting showed that “transnational organized criminal has permeated” Ecuador’s prison structure. He also stated that Mexico’s Sinaloa cartels and Jalisco New Generation cartels operate through local groups.
He told The Associated Press that they wanted to create fear and asked the government to temporarily give control of the prisons over to the National Police. He added that the more they succeed in their goal of controlling the prisons, the more violent and violent they are at murder.
The Ecuadorian president stated that care points have been established for relatives of inmates to provide them with food and support. He stated that the government will accelerate a $24million program to address the country’s prisons, beginning with infrastructure investments in technology at the Litoral prison.
Fausto Cobo was the former director of Ecuador’s prison Bureau. He stated that authorities inside penitentiaries face a “threat from power equal to, or greater than, the state itself.” Security forces must enter prisons unarmed and with shields, but they are confronted by high-caliber inmates.
After several violent incidents that saw more than 100 prisoners killed, Ecuador’s president declared a new state of emergency for Ecuador’s prison system in July. These deaths were spread across multiple prisons, not one facility like Tuesday’s massacre.
The bloodiest day in history occurred in February when 79 prisoners were killed in riots that broke out in three different prisons across the country. 22 prisoners died in July at the Litoral penitentiary. In September, a penitentiary centre was attacked by drones, leaving no victims.
