(Quito) At least 90 prison guards were taken hostage on Monday in several penitentiary centers in Ecuador the day after a clash between prisoners which left six dead, announced the prison administration (SNAI).
“At the moment, about 90 prison security officers are being held” in five prisons in different provinces, SNAI told the press via the WhatsApp application.
This organization added that the guards were in good health.
Detainees from 13 prisons in this country confronted with drug trafficking are also participating in a hunger strike on Monday, against 10 the day before, out of the 36 in Ecuador, according to the same source.
This movement began after the announcement of a new clash between inmates of rival gangs in the prison of Guayaquil (West) known as Guayas 1, where six prisoners died on Sunday and 11 others were injured.
PHOTO MARCOS PIN, AGENCY FRANCE-PRESSE
A woman cries outside Guayaquil prison
Guayaquil is one of the cities most affected in the country by violence and drug trafficking.
Ecuadorian penitentiaries have become a place of operations for criminal gangs, which compete for the drug market. A dozen such clashes have taken place since February 2021, killing more than 420 people: dozens of people have been burned alive or have succumbed to mutilation.
The SNAI had ordered on Sunday, before the clash broke out, to reinforce security in all these establishments with the help of the police and the army.
According to a recent census, 31,321 people, including 3,245 foreigners, are detained in Ecuador’s prisons, which have a capacity of 30,000 places.
The majority of prisoners are serving a sentence for drug trafficking, this country being one of the world’s leading producers of cocaine with Colombia and Peru.