Ecuador: They controlled riots in seven prisons and freed more than 150 hostages

Ecuador result control and suffocate this Saturday the series of prison riotThe situation began at the same time as the wave of criminal violence experienced in the last week freed more than 150 hostages who remained held by the prisoners, with the exception of one prison guard who reportedly died in a shootout.

The president announced it after 10pm local time in a message on social networks. Daniele Noboawho confirmed that all hostages held since the beginning of the week in the Deprivation of Liberty Centers of Azuay, Cañar, Esmeraldas, Cotopaxi, Tungurahua, El Oro and Loja have been released.

The riots had become the focus of this crisis of violence that began on Tuesday with a series of attacks and intimidating actions that included the attack on a television channel by an armed group, leading the government to declare “war” against these gangs , which it now classifies as terrorist groups.

in prisons There were at least 178 hostages including prison guards and administrative staff who began to be released little by little in the days following the outbreak of the crisis until the others were released this Saturday, just over 150 according to the latest official data.

For both prison officials and their families, it was five days of anguish and despair that left at least four dead, including a guard and three prisoners.

He a guard lost his life in Machala prisonwhere a shooting occurred on Friday night, despite the National Comprehensive Health Assistance Service (SNAI) for persons deprived of liberty, the state penitentiary agency, having assured hours earlier that the riot was already under control.

In Esmeraldas the release of eleven prison guards took place peacefully and took place through a negotiation in which the Church mediated, while in Ambato the armed forces intervened to reduce the prisoners and remove the thirteen prison guards held there.

A few minutes later, the mayor of Cuenca, Cristian Zamora, announced the release of all the staff detained in the city prison, also known as Turi prison, where the prisoners had climbed onto the roofs of the pavilions in the early hours of the morning, from inside which shots and detonations were heard.

On Friday night there was also the escape of a prisoner from the Litoral penitentiary, the largest and most populous prison in Ecuador, located in the city of Guayaquil, from where six inmates escaped, two of whom were recaptured nearby.

As a result, a prison guard was arrested on charges of facilitating the escape of prisoners.

They search “Fito’s” house.

Meanwhile, according to local media, the police and the armed forces carried out a search in the home of José Adolfo Macías Villamar, better known as “Fito”, the leader of the “Los Choneros” criminal gang who escaped from the regional prison of Guayaquil at least a week ago.

So far it has not been revealed what authorities found at the property located in the coastal town of Manta, where “Fito” is from.

After the news of “Fito’s escape” spread, the day of terror experienced by Ecuadorians on Tuesday came to an end with the kidnapping and murder of police officers, explosion alarms, burning vehicles, riots in prisons and attack by a group of armed men. television channel in Guayaquil where they kept their workers kidnapped for several hours.

Noboa against the criminal leaders

This wave of violence occurred as it became known that President Daniel Noboa’s government would implement its plan to regain control of prisons, many of which are dominated by these criminal gangs who have carried out a series of massacres inside prisons since 2020. prisons with more than 450 murdered prisoners.

To do this, Noboa seeks to isolate its leaders until two modern prisons inspired by the “Bukele model” are built.

Meanwhile, police on Saturday managed to rescue two officers who had been kidnapped since the beginning of the week.

During the first four days after the declaration of the “internal armed conflict”, 1,105 alleged criminals were arrested, 94 of them for alleged terrorism, while five alleged “terrorists” and two police officers were killed.