Paris, May 10, 2022 (AFP) – Last Sunday (8), the riot that left at least 44 dead in Ecuador is part of a long string of violence in Latin America’s often overcrowded prisons.
Below is a review of the deadliest riots and clashes between rival gangs in Latin American prisons since 2016.
– 2022 – On May 9, at least 44 inmates are killed in clashes between rival gangs at Bellavista prison in Santo Domingo de los Tsachilas (about 80 km from Quito), Ecuador. Another 100 prisoners managed to escape.
Clashes in Ecuadorian prisons are recurring and around 394 inmates have died since February 2021.
Authorities attribute the disturbances to rivalries between gangs, particularly drug dealers vying for control of prisons.
– 2021 – On February 23, simultaneous riots broke out in several prisons in Ecuador, resulting in a total of 79 deaths: 37 in two prisons in Guayaquil (southeast), 34 in one prison in Cuenca (south), and eight in Latacunga (center). . These centers collect 70% of the prison population in the country.
At least 119 people were killed and 80 injured in a massacre between rival gangs in a prison in Guayaquil on September 28.
In the early hours of 12-13 November, 62 detainees died in a new shootout, including in Guayaquil.
– 2020 – At least 47 dead and 75 injured in the riot that broke out in Los Llanos prison in Guanare on May 1 in Venezuela. According to the corresponding State representative, a group of prisoners stood up to protest the lack of food.
– 2019 – In Brazil on July 29, members of a drug trafficking gang invaded an area reserved for a rival gang, causing one of the worst bloodbaths in Brazilian prisons history.
This conflict in Pará, Altamira, in the middle of the Amazon jungle left 57 victims – 16 shot, but most of them drowned.
– 2018 – In Venezuela, on March 28, 66 prisoners and two women visiting prisoners died in a fire in the cells of the Valencia police station.
According to an NGO, the fire was set by the detainees to force the guards to open the cells and allow them to escape. Firefighters had to dig a hole in the back of the building so the detainees could get out.
– 2017 – On January 1, clashes broke out in a prison in Manaus, Brazil, between members of two criminal organizations in the context of a dispute over control of drug trafficking.
Fifty-six people were killed, many of them beheaded.
The rebellion, in which 12 guards were taken hostage, lasted 17 hours.
Five days later, at least 33 prisoners were killed in a prison in the state of Roraima, still in Brazil. As at Manaus, the victims were beheaded, gutted and dissected.
At least 37 people were killed and 18 injured in a riot that broke out in Venezuela’s forensic detention center in Puerto Ayacucho (Amazonas state) on 16 August.
– 2016 – On February 11, in Mexico, clashes between rival clans belonging to the same cartel resulted in the deaths of 49 people in an overcrowded prison in Monterrey.
source: Noticias
