At least 44 prisoners died in clashes between rival gangs Monday in a prison in Ecuador, from where a hundred other prisoners were able to escape thanks to the violence.
According to a latest report from the Interior Ministry, led by Patricio Carrillo, 44 detainees died and ten were injured.
A previous toll reported 43 dead.
The violence took place in Bellavista prison, in the province of Santo Domingo de los Tsachilas, about 80 km west of Quito.
On the spot, wounded with facial wounds were taken care of by ambulances and relatives of detainees crowded around the penitentiary center to try to obtain information, AFP noted.
According to the Ecuadorian police chief, « the attackers acted with great cruelty », while the violence was followed by a mass escape.
While the authorities did not give any figures on the total number of escapees, 112 of them could be « recaptured », but 108 were still « missing » on Monday afternoon, according to the police chief, the General Fausto Salinas. « 250 police, 200 soldiers and additional reinforcements are on the way », he detailed.
With a capacity of 1,200 places, the Bellavista prison currently accommodates 1,700 prisoners.
“This is the regrettable result of gang violence,” President Guillermo Lasso, on tour in Israel, lamented on Twitter. He sent his « sincere condolences to the families » of those who died.
– « Wolves » against « R7 » –
Clashes between members of two rival gangs, the « Wolves » and the « R7 », broke out around 3 a.m., the minister said, triggering « security protocols » to contain « disorders » in jail. « The majority of the victims, if not almost 100%, were killed with knives, not with firearms », and « their mutilated corpses left behind ».
« They were executed in the common rooms, in the cells », then « there was a massive escape attempt » with the use of firearms, admitted Mr. Carrillo.
« Those who are allowed to move between the different blocks within the prison are probably those who are behind this massacre, » he said, referring to a « scenario identical to that of April 28 in the prison of El Turi, where members of the + Wolves + had already faced + R7 + ». Some 20 prisoners had died there, most of them mutilated with knives.
Clashes, often extremely violent, are recurrent in Ecuadorian prisons, where nearly 350 inmates have died since February 2021.
According to the government, rival gangs of drug traffickers, infiltrated or controlled by Mexican cartels, are waging an all-out war for control of overcrowded prisons, a war that authorities have so far been powerless to stem.
But Irene Salazar, a relative of an inmate, said the government remained « idle » in the face of prison violence. « Why is the government not doing anything? He is negotiating…negotiating what? More money for him! And the starving poor, » the 29-year-old told AFP.
For Daniel Ponton, dean of the School of Security and Defense of the Institute for Advanced National Studies (IAEN), the « policy of relocation » of the most dangerous prisoners, exfiltrated from large prisons, is at the origin of this outbreak of violence in prisons hitherto « relatively calm », which could result in a « worrying generalization of the problem ».
The escape of many prisoners also indicates that it is « a low security prison », and therefore « extremely vulnerable ».
In 2021, Ecuador seized a record 210 tons of drugs, mostly cocaine. For 2022, seizures to date have reached around 70 tons.
Bordered by Colombia and Peru, the world’s largest cocaine producers, Ecuador serves as a port of departure for illicit shipments, mainly to the United States and Europe.
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