Death has once again shown its destructive jaw in the prison universe. Ecuador. “We are in the worst moment of the violence crisis in the country.Interior Minister Juan Zapata acknowledged this after 13 inmates died in two prisons between last Friday and this Sunday. Clashes between prisoners shocked Ecuadorians once again.
“God is great, he’s the only one who can put his hands up and close this prison so that nothing more happens,” a woman who locked her son in one of the pavilions told the Guayaquil newspaper ‘El Universo’. ‘. Fear that terror would retake the facilities permeated the inmates’ families.
This territorial disputes Among drug gangs, big cities have moved from neighborhoods to prisons. Some of these groups are related Mexican cartels like in Sinaloa. According to prison officials, the latest events began with a brawl between members of the Los Tiguerones and Fatales gangs.
scary numbers
Since 2021, fights between these groups have only flared up in prisons. 431 deaths. In September of the same year, nearly 120 inmates died in Guayas 1 detention centre, which is considered the largest prison massacre in that country. Of the 12 massacres in these institutions, 11 have occurred since the ex-banker. William Lasso He took over the presidency 23 months ago. prisons from 2021.
The situation in the detention centers led a delegation from Pakistan to visit the country. Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), at the end of 2021. Four months later, the delegation made its conclusions public. Subsequently, the Government was advised to significantly change its sentencing and prison policies, as well as to reduce the population in prisons by the practice of pre-trial detention on an exceptional basis. In response, the IACHR called on the State to guarantee institutional strengthening of the prison regime and to provide “conditions of detention compatible with human dignity”.
According to Fernando Bastias, member of the Ecuadorian Standing Committee for the Defense of Human Rights (CDH), Lasso ignored these suggestions. “Yes The state has no control over the centres. He can’t even carry out a public social rehabilitation policy,” he said.
The Relatives Committee for Justice in Prisons, with the support of the Standing Committee for the Defense of Human Rights (CDH), proposes, in this context, to sue the State for failure to protect persons killed in prisons.
growing concern
The wave of violence descending from prisons to the streets has increased dangerously. “You have to accept this There is an atmosphere of panic in the country. There is not a day when different videos and photos of murders, robberies, kidnappings terrify many. Members of criminal organizations film themselves proud of the power of their weapons. “Yes, these are the horror scenes that frighten many,” the newspaper El Comercio said. de Quito in Sunday’s editorial. “Ecuador has ceased to be a country of peace. “Newsletters have become red diaries reporters,” said El Telegrafo columnist José Gonzalo Bonilla.
The prison and security crises come at a time when the opposition is trying to move forward in Congress. A political lawsuit for embezzlement against Lasso. “They want to see me outside because I am uncomfortable with many, not all, because my government is fighting frontally against drug trafficking and also against different groups that are accustomed to collaborating with the state and committing acts of corruption,” he said, confident that the attempt against him would not be successful.