Prisons are the usual setting for power struggles waged by gangs linked to drug trafficking
At least 15 inmates died and a further 21 were injured in a riot recorded Monday at a prison in Ecuador, marking the eighth prison massacre since February 2021, according to a statement from the body that manages SNAI prisons, in which gangs linked to drug smuggling are fighting for power.
This latest uprising took place in the modern prison of the city of Latacunga (in the Andean center and capital of the province of Cotopaxi), with some 4,300 inmates, one of the largest in the country. “After the clashes registered in the CPL (Center for the Deprivation of Liberty) #Cotopaxi, 15 corpses of PPL (persons deprived of their liberty) were found on the spot,” the prosecution confirmed on Twitter.
In an interview given Monday to a television channel, Ecuadorian President Guillermo Lasso presented “a message of condolence and solidarity to the relatives of those who died today in (the) Cotopaxi Prison.” Inmates climbed onto the decks as explosions were heard, according to images broadcast on television news. That center was the scene of two massacres in 2021.
Moments before that, the deputy director of the SNAI, Jorge Flores, told the press that “for now, as far as we know, civilian Leandro Norero would be one of the victims.” Norero, known by the alias of “El Patron”, was arrested last May for the alleged crime of money laundering, in an operation involving $6.4 million, 24 gold bars, firearms and ammunition.
Apparently, the man associated with drug trafficking who was sentenced to prison in Peru became one of the bosses among the inmates. “With regard to the death of the accused #LeandroN., #FiscalíaEc informs that after the associated identification tasks, his death may or may not be confirmed,” said the accusing entity.
Ecuadorian prisons, with a capacity of some 30,000 people but holding 1,900 more inmates, have in recent years become battlegrounds where gangs linked to the drug trade battle with blood and fire for power.
This war also extends to the streets of several cities such as the port of Guayaquil (southwest), where a large prison complex with some 13,100 inmates operates and where the largest massacres of dismembered and burnt bodies have taken place since last year. are among the most important in Latin America.
Earlier, the SNAI reported “incidents” at Latacunga Prison and indicated that “the (police) tactical units continue to operate internally to regain control.”
The military also acted against the mutiny and took control of the external perimeter, according to the SNAI. “Control has been retaken,” Cotopaxi governor Oswaldo Coronel announced overnight.
A government-established pacification commission, which failed to achieve its goal, stated in April that Ecuadorian prisons are “considered as detention centers for people and torture centers”.
Ecuador, with a population of 18 million, seized an annual record 210 tons of drugs in 2021, when the homicide rate nearly doubled to 14 homicides per 100,000 people.
The country, located between Colombia and Peru, the world’s largest cocaine producer, has seized about 150 tons of drugs so far this year.
In August, the executive began a prison census to improve living conditions in the face of prison overcrowding.
Source: La Verdad
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