Ecuador: At least 20 dead in riots at El Touri prison

At least 20 people were killed Sunday in riot gear in the southern part of Ecuador, a presidential spokesman said.

The incidents broke out yesterday around 01:30 (local time; 09:30 Greek time) in the highest security ward of El Touri prison, in the city of Cuenca. Authorities said they had regained control of the penitentiary.

Interior Minister Patricio Carrio said earlier that a force of 800 soldiers and police had been mobilized to restore order in the prison.

According to the minister, “five mutilated corpses” were found, while five injured are in critical condition. Mr. Carigio explained that the wings are being evacuated one by one to confiscate weapons and “clear” the cells.

“One gang tried to take full control of the prison, but others resisted,” the interior minister had earlier said. He blamed the unrest on the surplus population of detainees in al-Turi.

At noon, detainees and police officers were still seen on the roofs of prison buildings.

Ecuador has become increasingly confronted in recent years with bloody riots in prisons, which are generally considered by the authorities to be linked to organized crime gangs. 320 prisoners were killed in such incidents in 2021, among 79 last year in February, when incidents broke out simultaneously in four prisons.

The deadliest death toll – 119 deaths – was recorded in September in Guayaquil Jail in southwestern Province of Guayaquil. Two months earlier, in the same prison, 62 detainees had been killed in clashes between members of rival gangs who used explosives, machetes and firearms.

Ecuador has 65 prisons, with a nominal capacity of 30,000 places, but in which the surplus population of inmates is at least 30%, today reaches 39,000 prisoners, of which about 15,000 have not been convicted.

Ecuadorian authorities seized 210 tonnes of drugs in 2021, the largest amount in history. In the first quarter of 2022, they have seized a quantity that slightly exceeded 52 tons.

SOURCE: AMPE