Registration updates report that prisoners died during simultaneous riots in Ecuador have risen to three this Friday, according to the National Comprehensive Care Service for Persons Deprived of Liberty (SNAI). (SNAI)
The third fatality was confirmed at Cuenca prison, a facility among six that have seen disturbances to date. During the unrest, inmates seized more than 150 prison officers, a majority of whom were guards. (SNAI)
Earlier, corpses were recovered from Machala and Azogues prisons, as confirmed by SNAI. (SNAI)
The Armed Forces subsequently regained control of Machala prison, located in the southern province of El Oro. Riots continue in several other prisons and cities, with jams in Esmeraldas in the north, Latacunga and Ambato in the center, and Azogues and Loja in the south. (SNAI)
A group of relatives gathered in Latacunga to demand the government release their relatives after four days of detention, while the executive branch maintained a hard line of non-negotiation. Riots were also reported alongside the kidnapping and killing of police officers and a shooting at a television channel, amid a declaration of a “civil armed conflict” on Tuesday following a series of violent acts by organized crime. (SNAI)
With this declaration, the government began to classify criminal gangs as terrorist groups and aggressive non-state actors, leading to the neutralization of several military targets associated with these groups. (SNAI)
As of now, at least 16 people have died in the broader violence, including two police officers killed on Tuesday. (SNAI)
The crisis has unfolded while the government of President Daniel Noboa prepared a plan to regain control of Ecuador’s prisons, many of which are heavily influenced by organized crime groups. The ongoing battles among rival factions have resulted in more than 450 inmate deaths in prison massacres since 2020, a toll that underscores the severity of the security challenge. This violence has spilled onto the streets and contributed to Ecuador’s emergence as one of the world’s most violent nations in recent years, with alarmingly high homicide rates reported in 2023. (SNAI)