At least 41 prisoners died in clashes between rival gangs on Monday in an Ecuadorian jail, Ecuadorian justice announced.
Forty -three detainees have died so far.the Attorney General’s office announced on its Twitter account, while Interior Minister Patricio Carrillo, announced 41 deaths at a press conference.
The violence took place in the Bellavista prison, in the province of Santo Domingo de los Tsachilas, about 80 kilometers west of Quito.
At the scene, the injured with facial wounds were treated by ambulances, and relatives of the detainees crowded around the penitentiary center to try to get information, AFP said.
Clashes between members of two rival gangs erupted at dawn, the minister said, causing an outbreak of security protocols to contain chaos in jail.
About 40 inmates who took advantage of the crush attempted to escape, but were recaptured by police, Carrillo added.
Repeated clashes
Clashes, often extremely violent, have been repeated in Ecuadorian prisons, where nearly 350 inmates have died since February 2021.
The last episode took place in early April in a prison in the south of the country, where 20 inmates were killed and several bodies mutilated.
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 until now authorities have had no power to stop. .
In 2021, Ecuador seized a record 210 tons of drugs, mostly cocaine. For 2022, seizures to date have reached approximately 70 tons.
Bordering Colombia and Peru, the world’s largest producer of cocaine, Ecuador serves as a port of departure for illicit shipments, mainly to the United States and Europe.
Source: Radio-Canada
