bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

paywallTypes

createdDate

publishedDate

urlAlias

moreOnThisArticles

sponsorType

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

articleSpeeches

socialHeadline

headline

images

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

Agence France-Presse

At least 44 inmates died on Monday in Ecuador’s latest grisly prison riot, the public prosecutor said, as another 100 prisoners managed to escape.
Authorities said a fight broke out between the rival Los Lobos and R7 gangs inside the Bellavista prison in Santo Domingo de los Colorados, in the centre of Ecuador some 80km (50 miles) from Quito.
During the riot, dozens of inmates tried to escape.
Police chief Fausto Salinas told reporters that 108 were missing after another 112 escaped prisoners were recaptured.
The South American country’s prison authority SNAI said it has activated “security protocols” to contain the “disturbances to order”.
At least 68 inmates killed in Ecuador prison riot
Six gang leaders were transferred from Bellavista to two maximum security prisons, the interior ministry said.
Interior Minister Patricio Carrillo had initially claimed authorities were in control of the situation and that all escaped prisoners had been recaptured.
Inmates with facial injuries were taken by truck and ambulance to medical facilities while family members of those incarcerated gathered at the prison looking for information, AFP reporters at the scene said.

Prior to this one, around 350 inmates had been killed in five separate prison riots since February 2021.
Just last month, at least 20 inmates died inside the El Turi prison in Cuenca, southern Ecuador.
Ecuadorean President Guillermo Lasso insists the problem inside the facilities mirrors that outside, where drug gangs are vying for control of trafficking routes.
Ecuador to pardon thousands after 118 die in worst-ever prison riot
Those rivalries among inmates sometimes explode into violence, with some prisoners hacked to death or beheaded with machetes.
“The majority of victims, if not almost 100 per cent, were killed with knives and not guns,” said Carrillo.
“Their mutilated bodies were left where they were.”

The prisoners were killed in their cells and common rooms, after which inmates then used guns to try to escape the facility.
Authorities have said they will carry out a search for weapons and transfer gang leaders to a different prison in Guayas province.
“This is the unfortunate result of gang violence,” Lasso, who is on a state visit to Israel, wrote on Twitter.
He also expressed “condolences to relatives” of the victims.
Even with greater investment in the prison system, the creation of a commission to pacify facilities and new policies such as the holding of the most dangerous prisoners at a single penitentiary, have not reduced the bloody violence.
Police regain control of Ecuador prison after riot bloodbath
Overcrowding is another problem, with 35,000 detainees in 65 prisons that only have a capacity for 30,000 inmates.
The 1,200-capacity Bellavista prison houses 1,700 inmates.
Ecuador has also seen a rise in street crime and drug trafficking which the government has tried to tackle by declaring a state of emergency in the three worst affected provinces: Guayas, Manabi and Esmeraldas.
The country seized a record 210 tonnes of drugs in 2021 and has already seized another 82 tonnes this year.
Ecuador, which borders the world’s two largest producers of cocaine, Colombia and Peru, is often used as a jumping off point to export the white powder to the United States and Europe.


Venezuela proposes to free hundreds of prisoners, turn ‘torture’ prison into sports hub

Trump says he’s reopening Venezuelan airspace and Americans can visit soon

Plane crash in Colombia kills 15, including politician

Francisco Urdinez on how Venezuela tests China’s economic advance in Latin America

Americas and the Caribbean

Riot in Ecuador prison leaves 44 dead, dozens on the run

Bellavista prison has been brought back under control, police said. Photo: Ecuadorean Interior Ministry

Inmates shout from inside Bellavista prison where a deadly riot broke out. Photo: AP

Soldiers at the prison. Photo: EPA-EFE

At least 68 inmates killed in Ecuador prison riot

A military policeman stands guard after a prison riot left 58 dead in Guayaquil, Ecuador on Saturday. Photo: AFP

A relative of an inmate cries as she waits for news about her loved one after 58 convicts were killed in a riot at the Guayas 1 prison in Guayaquil, Ecuador, on November 13, 2021. - Ferocious clashes have left 58 inmates dead in an Ecuador prison, police said Saturday, in the latest unrest at a Guayaquil jail that was the scene of a September riot which killed 119 prisoners. (Photo by Fernando Mendez / AFP)

Seven prisoners found dead in Ecuador jail affected by riots

Inmates of the Regional de Guayaquil prison hold banners calling for peace after riots broke out at the Penitenciaria del Litoral, in Guayaquil, Ecuador on October 2. Photo: Reuters

Fresh clashes at Ecuador prison, days after 118 inmates killed in riot

Police are seen walking out of a prison in Ecuador, days after the country's worst-ever riots broke out. Photo: Reuters

Inmates of the Regional de Guayaquil prison hold banners reading "(Police commander) Tania Varela, calm down" after unrest was reported since the country's worst-ever riots broke out a few days ago at the Penitenciaria del Litoral, in Guayaquil, Ecuador October 2, 2021. REUTERS/Vicente Gaibor del Pino

Ecuador to pardon thousands after 118 die in worst-ever prison riot

Members of the military stand guard outside the Penitenciaria del Litoral in Guayaquil, Ecuador on Thursday. Photo: Reuters

News

World

Americas

Deadly clash was the latest episode of prison violence to rock the South American country
Government says prison gangs often fight over control of territory and drug trafficking routes


The riot was the latest incident of violence in Ecuadorean prisons, which the government attributes to fights between gangs over control of territory and drug trafficking routes.


Crime

Drugs

Ecuador

Riot in Ecuador prison leaves 44 dead, dozens on the run

.css-1mniedq{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;}Deadly clash was the latest episode of prison violence to rock the South American country Government says prison gangs often fight over control of territory and drug trafficking routes

Deadly clash was the latest episode of prison violence to rock the South American country

Government says prison gangs often fight over control of territory and drug trafficking routes