(Quito) Thirteen inmates lost their lives on Monday in a brawl in a prison in Ecuador, which also left two injured, according to the public body in charge of prisons, the SNAI.
Posted at 7:25 p.m.
Updated at 9:02 p.m.
Staff at Bellavista prison, in the province of Santo Domingo de los Tsachilas, about 80 km west of Quito, “reported 13 deaths among inmates and 2 injuries,” SNAI tweeted.
The SNAI added that it had “taken back control” of this prison, “with the support of the police and the army”.
The prosecutor’s office indicated in turn that it “is proceeding to the removal of the corpses” and is investigating in this prison.
It is already in this establishment that 44 prisoners had perished in May during clashes between rival gangs. During this revolt, 220 prisoners escaped. Almost all have been taken over.
Clashes, often extremely violent, are recurrent in Ecuadorian prisons.
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.
In 2021, Ecuador seized a record 210 tons of drugs, mostly cocaine. For 2022, seizures to date have reached around 70 tonnes.
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.
Ecuadorian prisons, with a capacity of some 30,000 people, are currently overcrowded by almost 9% compared to 30% two years ago.
Ecuador is facing a wave of violence linked to drug trafficking that leaves bloody images with decapitated bodies hanging from bridges in the style of Mexican cartels.
Last year, the nation of 17.7 million people recorded a rate of 14 murders per 100,000 people, nearly double that of 2020.
Ecuador remained for many years relatively safe from the violence of its neighbors Colombia and Peru, the world’s two largest producers of cocaine.
The latest report from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (Unodc), published in June, indicates that Ecuador seized 6.5% of the cocaine seized in the world in 2020, ranking behind Colombia (41%, with nearly 600 tonnes) and the United States (11%).