Ecuador assesses toll of prison violence as 17 guards still held
1 year, 4 months ago

Ecuador assesses toll of prison violence as 17 guards still held

Al Jazeera  

Authorities say they are still determining an official death toll after days of violence across Ecuador’s prisons. Authorities in Ecuador continue to assess the toll of a days-long spate of prison violence, after President Guillermo Lasso declared a state of emergency in the country’s detention system in a push to restore calm. Police said on Wednesday that they had recovered 11 bodies and 29 body parts after retaking control of various cellblocks at a prison in Guayaquil, a port city about 420km southwest of the capital, Quito. Meanwhile, 17 prison guards were being held hostage on Wednesday at a jail in the city of Esmeraldas, the country’s prison agency SNAI said. More than 100 prison officers held in jails around the country were freed on Tuesday, and SNAI said prisoners had lifted hunger strikes held at some facilities.

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History of this topic

At least 15 inmates killed in a fight in Ecuador’s largest prison
1 month, 1 week ago

At least 15 inmates killed in a fight in Ecuador’s largest prison

Associated Press  

QUITO, Ecuador — A fight among inmates in Ecuador’s largest and most dangerous prison left 15 dead and 14 wounded, authorities said Tuesday, in the bloodiest prison episode faced by President Daniel Noboa’s government. The latest violence underscores the ongoing challenges faced by the Noboa administration in addressing the country’s severe prison crisis. The mass killing is bound to agitate …

At least 15 dead as inmates clash at notorious Ecuadorian prison
1 month, 1 week ago

At least 15 dead as inmates clash at notorious Ecuadorian prison

CNN  

CNN — At least 15 people have been killed and 14 injured in clashes between inmates at one of Ecuador’s largest and most notorious prisons, local authorities say. The violence broke out early Tuesday in one of the pavilions at Litoral Penitentiary in the coastal city of Guayaquil, according to national prison agency SNAI. Inmates' relatives embrace outside the Litoral …

Five jailed for 2023 murder of Ecuador presidential candidate
5 months, 1 week ago

Five jailed for 2023 murder of Ecuador presidential candidate

Al Jazeera  

Former journalist Fernando Villavicencio’s family and friends have urged an investigation into who ordered his killing. A court in Ecuador has handed down prison sentences of 12 to 34 years to five people found guilty of conspiring to murder presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio. According to the attorney general’s office, Carlos Edwin Angulo Lara, known as ‘El Invisible’, gave the order …

Gunmen in Ecuador kill 8, injure 8 others in attack in coastal city of Guayaquil as violence surges
8 months, 3 weeks ago

Gunmen in Ecuador kill 8, injure 8 others in attack in coastal city of Guayaquil as violence surges

The Independent  

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Ecuador: 5 tourists kidnapped, killed by 'rival gangsters'
8 months, 3 weeks ago

Ecuador: 5 tourists kidnapped, killed by 'rival gangsters'

Firstpost  

Six adults and a child were abducted on Friday when about 20 attackers broke into a hotel in the southern Ecuadorian beach town of Ayampe, according to local police chief Richard Vaca The assailants "apparently mistook them for adversaries" from a rival drug gang, said Vaca.President Daniel Noboa said one person has been arrested so far in the case and …

No ‘clear way out’: How Ecuador descended into gang violence
10 months, 1 week ago

No ‘clear way out’: How Ecuador descended into gang violence

Al Jazeera  

Experts trace the root causes of Ecuador’s spiralling violence, as President Daniel Noboa leads a crackdown on gangs. “Ecuador is a small country in a violent neighbourhood, and it’s become a key part of global narco-trafficking networks,” said Will Freeman, a fellow for Latin America studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, a US-based think tank. As Ecuador’s prominence in …

Ecuadorian prosecutor investigating TV studio attack shot dead
11 months ago

Ecuadorian prosecutor investigating TV studio attack shot dead

Firstpost  

In a brutal intensification of the ongoing “war” between the government and criminal organizations, the prosecutor looking into a spectacular armed assault by gangsters on live television was shot and killed on Wednesday, according to officials. The government last week declared war on powerful drug gangs, who in turn threatened to execute civilians and security forces and carried out a …

Ecuador jails back in control of the government days after inmates held 200 officials as hostages
11 months, 1 week ago

Ecuador jails back in control of the government days after inmates held 200 officials as hostages

Firstpost  

Ecuador’s security forces reclaimed control of several prisons that had fallen into the hands of gang members on Sunday, after securing the release of more than 200 officials who had been held hostage inside. Following the dangerous drug lord’s prison escape, the government and powerful narco gangs declared an all-out war on one another, sparking the nation’s long-brewing security crisis. …

41 Hostage Prison Workers Are Freed in Ecuador
11 months, 1 week ago

41 Hostage Prison Workers Are Freed in Ecuador

News 18  

More than 40 Ecuador prison officials taken hostage by inmates have been freed, the prisons authority said Saturday, as the country grapples with a brutal campaign of gang terror. The 24 guards and 17 administrative employees “were released,” the SNAI prisons authority said without providing details, while 133 guards and three employees continue to be held hostage. The guards and …

Ecuador prison staff held hostage by inmates all freed
11 months, 1 week ago

Ecuador prison staff held hostage by inmates all freed

Al Jazeera  

Prison authorities say 158 guards and 20 administrative staffers were held by inmates in at least seven prisons. “Security protocols and the joint work of the police and the national army enabled the release of all the hostages who were being held in various prisons across the country,” SNAI prison authorities said in a statement on the social media platform …

A Spike in Violence Rattles Ecuador as Nightclub Arson Kills 2 and False Bomb Sparks Evacuation
11 months, 1 week ago

A Spike in Violence Rattles Ecuador as Nightclub Arson Kills 2 and False Bomb Sparks Evacuation

News 18  

A fake bomb threat rattled the capital of Ecuador on Thursday, sparking the mobilization of an anti-explosives unit to a bustling area, while authorities in a city west of Quito responded to a nightclub arson that killed two people as the South American country staggers under a spike in violence. Police said they were forced to evacuate people from Playón …

Drug cartel declares war on the government in Ecuador
11 months, 1 week ago

Drug cartel declares war on the government in Ecuador

Op India  

In Ecuador, several hundred soldiers patrolled the capital Quito, where residents were traumatised as an upsurge in violence shook the entire nation. President Daniel Noboa declared a state of emergency for 60 days and a night curfew on 8th January, but the gangs responded by declaring “war” and threatening to kill civilians and security forces. Just over two months after …

Ecuador ‘in state of war’ against drug cartels’ terror campaign
11 months, 1 week ago

Ecuador ‘in state of war’ against drug cartels’ terror campaign

Al Jazeera  

With city streets largely deserted apart from a massive military deployment, Ecuador found itself in a “state of war” as drug cartels waged a brutal campaign of kidnappings and attacks in response to a government crackdown. The latest outburst of violence was sparked by the discovery on Sunday of the prison escape of one of the country’s most powerful narco …

Armed attack during live broadcast at Ecuadorian TV station. What’s behind the spiraling violence?
11 months, 2 weeks ago

Armed attack during live broadcast at Ecuadorian TV station. What’s behind the spiraling violence?

Associated Press  

GUAYAQUIL, Ecuador — A group of armed, masked men in Ecuador launched an audacious attack on a television station during a live broadcast and so revealed the country’s spiraling violence in the wake of an apparent recent prison escape. According to authorities, disputes between gangs inside the prisons prompted the death in December of 2020 of a Los Choneros leader, …

Ecuador president declares ‘war’ with criminal gangs amid soaring violence
11 months, 2 weeks ago

Ecuador president declares ‘war’ with criminal gangs amid soaring violence

Al Jazeera  

City streets deserted after gangs take prison staff hostage, set off explosions and briefly seize a TV station live on air. Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa says his country is “at war” after drug gangs took more than 130 prison guards and other staff hostage and briefly captured a TV station during a live broadcast. “We are at war, and we …

Ecuador’s narco gang violence: A timeline of the recent crisis
11 months, 2 weeks ago

Ecuador’s narco gang violence: A timeline of the recent crisis

Al Jazeera  

Long seen as stable in a region wracked with drug-related crime, Ecuador is now seeing brazen attacks that have shocked many. Ecuador’s President Daniel Noboa has declared a state of emergency after at least 10 people were killed in a series of bold attacks in the past several days, as the South American country grapples with record gang-related violence. Before …

Ten killed, gangs unleash terror as Ecuador declares state of emergency
11 months, 2 weeks ago

Ten killed, gangs unleash terror as Ecuador declares state of emergency

Al Jazeera  

Gunmen storm TV station during live broadcast, more than 20 violent incidents reported as country lurches into crisis. At least 10 people have been killed in Ecuador in a series of attacks blamed on armed gangs, as the country plunges into chaos in what the new president has called an “internal armed conflict”. President Daniel Noboa, 36, declared a 60-day …

Ecuador in state of emergency after drug boss’s prison break
11 months, 2 weeks ago

Ecuador in state of emergency after drug boss’s prison break

The Telegraph  

A notorious trafficking kingpin linked to the escalating drug gang war in Ecuador has broken out of prison, triggering a state of emergency and a wave of violence. Authorities in the once relatively peaceful South American country launched one of the biggest manhunts in its history after José Adolfo Macias Villamar, known as “Fito,” escaped in the port city of …

How will the deaths of high-profile murder suspects tip Ecuador’s election?
1 year, 2 months ago

How will the deaths of high-profile murder suspects tip Ecuador’s election?

Al Jazeera  

Seven suspects in the assassination of presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio have died in prison this month. “All the were Colombian nationals and were charged with the assassination of ex-presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio,” SNAI said in its press release. “If anything happens, they change their minds.” A tight election Maluk believes the fallout from the seven killings could weigh heavily on …

Ecuadorians are picking a new president, but their demands for safety will be hard to meet
1 year, 2 months ago

Ecuadorians are picking a new president, but their demands for safety will be hard to meet

Associated Press  

CARACAS, Venezuela — The contest comes Sunday, and whoever wins the prize — a job that starts on Christmas — will face a difficult, if not impossible, task. “There’s nothing that fails like success,” said Lowell Gustafson, a Latin American politics professor at Villanova University. “Whoever wins this election is going to have to deal with this … but I …

Colombians held over Ecuador presidential candidate’s murder slain in jail
1 year, 2 months ago

Colombians held over Ecuador presidential candidate’s murder slain in jail

Al Jazeera  

Ecuador’s President pledges to get to bottom of killings in prison of six Colombian suspects in high-profile murder. Six Colombian inmates killed in a prison in Ecuador were all suspects in the murder of the country’s anticorruption presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio earlier this year, Ecuadorian authorities have confirmed. They “are of Colombian nationality and were accused of the murder of …

Ecuador says 57 guards and police officers are released after being held hostage in several prisons
1 year, 3 months ago

Ecuador says 57 guards and police officers are released after being held hostage in several prisons

Associated Press  

QUITO, Ecuador — Ecuadorian authorities announced Friday the release of 50 guards and seven police officers who were taken hostage for more than a day, in what the government described as a response by criminal groups to its efforts to regain control of several large correctional facilities in the South American country. The latest explosion with dynamite happened early Friday …

Car bomb explosions and hostage-taking inside prisons underscore Ecuador’s fragile security
1 year, 3 months ago

Car bomb explosions and hostage-taking inside prisons underscore Ecuador’s fragile security

Associated Press  

QUITO, Ecuador — Ecuador’s fragile security situation was underscored Thursday by a series of car bombings and the hostage-taking of more than 50 law enforcement officers inside various prisons, just weeks after the country was shaken by the assassination of a presidential candidate. Ecuador’s National Police reported no injuries resulting from the four explosions in Quito, the capital, and in …

Ecuadorian police arrest six after car bombs explode in Quito
1 year, 3 months ago

Ecuadorian police arrest six after car bombs explode in Quito

Al Jazeera  

South American nation is grappling with surge in violence as voters prepare for October presidential run-off. Police in Ecuador have arrested six suspects after a car bombing in a commercial area of the capital, Quito, as the South American nation grapples with a surge in violence that authorities say is linked to drug trafficking. The vehicle exploded due to the …

Ecuador was calm and peaceful. Now hitmen, kidnappers and robbers walk the streets
1 year, 4 months ago

Ecuador was calm and peaceful. Now hitmen, kidnappers and robbers walk the streets

Associated Press  

GUAYAQUIL, Ecuador — Belen Diaz was walking home from college one evening when a motorcycle carrying two men made a menacing U-turn. “We are at the hands of drug trafficking, of evil in its entirety.” The country’s National Police tallied 3,568 violent deaths in the first six months of this year, far more than the 2,042 reported during the same …

Ecuador beset by crime, economic woes ahead of presidential vote
1 year, 4 months ago

Ecuador beset by crime, economic woes ahead of presidential vote

Al Jazeera  

People in Ecuador have expressed pessimism ahead of upcoming presidential elections, as the South American nation struggles with economic turmoil and increasing crime and insecurity. But a lack of employment opportunities and rising insecurity – linked in part to increased activity among criminal groups – have pushed a growing number of people to leave Ecuador and seek opportunities elsewhere. “We’re …

Ecuador collects body parts from major prison after multi-day uprising leaves dozens dead
1 year, 4 months ago

Ecuador collects body parts from major prison after multi-day uprising leaves dozens dead

CNN  

CNN — At least 11 “complete bodies” and dozens of body parts, including human heads, were recovered on Wednesday from a major prison in Ecuador, after days of deadly prison clashes. However, the National Forensic Service of Ecuador has cautioned that the official death toll remains to be fully determined, as many body parts must still be identified. Cesar Munoz/AP …

How gang warfare jumped from Ecuador’s prisons to the open street
1 year, 4 months ago

How gang warfare jumped from Ecuador’s prisons to the open street

CNN  

CNN — Frantic purchases of ammunition, the daylight assassination of a mayor, and a growing body count inside Ecuador’s prisons signal that the country’s roiling security crisis is going from bad to worse. Security forces have struggled to confront the gangs inside overcrowded prisons, where inmates often take control of branches of the penitentiaries and run criminal networks from behind …

Ecuador suspends rights of assembly in some areas, deploys soldiers to prisons amid violence wave
1 year, 4 months ago

Ecuador suspends rights of assembly in some areas, deploys soldiers to prisons amid violence wave

Associated Press  

QUITO, Ecuador — Ecuador’s President Guillermo Lasso is once again making use of the executive’s power to suspend people’s rights of assembly in some areas and mobilize the military in an attempt to quell the most recent wave of violence that has left at least 18 people dead in the South American country. The order covering the prisons came after …

Toll from Ecuador jail riots hits 31 as army wrests back control
1 year, 4 months ago

Toll from Ecuador jail riots hits 31 as army wrests back control

Al Jazeera  

Death toll from riots in Ecuador’s prisons climbs as soldiers storm a violence-hobbled jail in port of Guayaquil. Dozens of people have died from a wave of violence in Ecuador’s most dangerous prison, officials said, hours as President Guillermo Lasso imposed a 60-day state of emergency across the country’s penitentiary system. The prosecutor’s office raised the toll to 31 from …

Ecuador announces state of emergency after mayor shot to death
1 year, 4 months ago

Ecuador announces state of emergency after mayor shot to death

Al Jazeera  

The country is also contending with violence within its prison system as deadly clashes erupt between gangs. Ecuador has announced a state of emergency in three provinces after a shooting left two people dead, including the mayor of a major city. In announcing the measure on Monday, Ecuador’s President Guillermo Lasso paid tribute to the two victims, Agustín Intriago and …

Ecuador declares state of emergency amid violent clashes
1 year, 4 months ago

Ecuador declares state of emergency amid violent clashes

The Hindu  

Ecuador’s President Guillermo Lasso on Monday declared a state of emergency and night curfews in three coastal provinces, amid a wave of violence over the weekend in the Andean country that left at least eight people dead. Lasso declared a state of emergency in the provinces of Manabi and Los Rios and in the city of Duran, near Guayaquil, after …

Over 90 prison guards are being held hostage by inmates across five different prisons in Ecuador
1 year, 5 months ago

Over 90 prison guards are being held hostage by inmates across five different prisons in Ecuador

CNN  

CNN — Ecuador’s government has declared a state of emergency in two provinces after its security crisis escalated over the weekend with the killing of a mayor and uprisings in several penitentiaries across the country. More than 90 prison security agents are currently being held by inmates across five different prisons in Ecuador, according to the country’s penitentiary service SNAI. …

Mayor of Ecuador port city slain in shooting that kills 1 other, wounds 4
1 year, 5 months ago

Mayor of Ecuador port city slain in shooting that kills 1 other, wounds 4

Associated Press  

QUITO, Ecuador — The mayor of Ecuador’s third largest city was slain Sunday in a shooting that killed one other person and wounded four more, including two suspected attackers, officials said. The victim’s sister, Ana Intriago, wrote on her Twitter account that “this crime cannot go unpunished.. Let’s not let them win.” Manta is about 260 kilometers southwest of Ecuador’s …

Death toll rises to 46 in Honduran women’s prison gang violence
1 year, 6 months ago

Death toll rises to 46 in Honduran women’s prison gang violence

Al Jazeera  

Authorities say they are working to identify bodies burned during rioting on Tuesday. The number of people killed during a spate of rioting and fires at a Honduran women’s prison this week has risen to 46 with dozens of families waiting for the bodies of their loved ones to be released. The shooting and burning of dozens of people, one …

Armed attack kills 10 in Ecuador port of Guayaquil
1 year, 7 months ago

Armed attack kills 10 in Ecuador port of Guayaquil

Al Jazeera  

Three people have also been wounded in the shooting including a five-year-old girl, police say. At least 10 people have been killed in an armed attack overnight in Guayaquil, Ecuador’s main port city and economic hub that is under a state of emergency due to rising drug violence, the public prosecutor’s office and police have reported. “We believe that this …

Ten killed as gang bosses’ transfer sparks prison riot in Ecuador
2 years, 1 month ago

Ten killed as gang bosses’ transfer sparks prison riot in Ecuador

Al Jazeera  

Ecuador has experienced eight prison riots which have left about 400 inmates dead since February 2021. Ten inmates have been killed in a riot at a prison in Ecuador’s capital Quito, which authorities said took place as a result of the government’s decision to relocate three crime bosses to a high-security facility. The prison riot and killings are the latest …

UN experts sound alarm as Ecuador sees more deadly prison clashes
2 years, 2 months ago

UN experts sound alarm as Ecuador sees more deadly prison clashes

Al Jazeera  

Recent violence in Ecuador’s prisons is the result of ‘decades of state abandonment’, United Nations panel says. A panel of United Nations experts has raised “grave” concerns about the deadly violence plaguing Ecuador’s prisons, as officials in the South American nation said after more than two dozen people were killed in bloody clashes this week. Hundreds of people have been …

At least 15 killed in latest Ecuador prison riot
2 years, 2 months ago

At least 15 killed in latest Ecuador prison riot

Al Jazeera  

South American nation’s prison agency says 14 people were taken to hospital and work is under way to identify the dead. At least 15 prisoners have been killed and many wounded in the latest riot to hit Ecuador’s troubled prison system. Monday’s rioting at the Cotopaxi No 1 jail in Latacunga left “15 people dead and 20 injured,” said a …

Ecuador says 12 killed in latest deadly prison riot
2 years, 5 months ago

Ecuador says 12 killed in latest deadly prison riot

Al Jazeera  

Authorities lower death toll from 13 after riot at Bellavista prison as work continues to identify dismembered bodies. “Crime scene investigation teams have collected 45 human parts in the Santo Domingo penitentiary, which are 12 bodies and not 13,” Interior Minister Patricio Carrillo said on Twitter on Tuesday. The incident is the latest bout of deadly violence to grip Ecuador’s …

Ecuador imprisonment ‘almost a death sentence’: Amnesty
2 years, 7 months ago

Ecuador imprisonment ‘almost a death sentence’: Amnesty

Al Jazeera  

Rights group calls on government to address structural problems as prison riot left at least 44 inmates dead this week. Imprisonment is nearly “a death sentence” in Ecuador, Amnesty International has warned, a day after the latest prison riot in the South American nation left dozens of inmates dead. In a statement on Tuesday, the human rights group’s Americas director …

Dozens dead in latest Ecuador prison riot
2 years, 7 months ago

Dozens dead in latest Ecuador prison riot

Al Jazeera  

Authorities say at least 43 people killed after a fight broke out between rival gangs at prison 80km from Quito. Dozens of people have been killed in a fight between rival gangs inside a prison in Ecuador, the public prosecutor’s office said, in the latest instance of deadly prison violence in the South American nation. Authorities said a fight broke …

Ecuador declares emergency in three provinces over drug violence
2 years, 7 months ago

Ecuador declares emergency in three provinces over drug violence

Al Jazeera  

Thousands of police and troops will be deployed under the state of emergency, the second to be imposed by the president in a bid to curb drug-linked violence. Ecuadoran President Guillermo Lasso has imposed a state of emergency in three provinces blaming drug-related violence. It is the second time Lasso has used emergency powers to counter violence that has surged …

Ecuador pardons some inmates after deadly prison riots
3 years, 1 month ago

Ecuador pardons some inmates after deadly prison riots

Al Jazeera  

Ecuador is seeking to ease overcrowding in its prisons after gang-linked riots killed more than 300 people this year. Ecuador’s president has pardoned some prisoners in an effort to ease overcrowding in the country’s prisons following a string of riots that left more than 300 people dead this year. In a statement late on Monday, Guillermo Lasso’s press office said …

‘We are all suffering’: What’s going on inside Ecuador’s prisons?
3 years, 1 month ago

‘We are all suffering’: What’s going on inside Ecuador’s prisons?

Al Jazeera  

Hundreds have been killed in gang-linked riots this year, as experts say systemic problems plague country’s prisons. “Like all the other mothers in Guayaquil say, don’t give information, we don’t know anything, we don’t have access to anything.” Systemic problems Security experts in Ecuador have identified 11 armed groups that control the country’s prisons, including Ecuador’s largest, Los Choneros – …

Signs abounded that deadly Ecuador prison attack was coming
3 years, 1 month ago

Signs abounded that deadly Ecuador prison attack was coming

Associated Press  

GUAYAQUIL, Ecuador — The signs that an attack was imminent inside the largest prison in Ecuador’s coastal city of Guayaquil could not have been clearer. Hours later police announced what the prisoners inside Litoral already knew: The three men detained belonged to a prison gang that was stockpiling weapons. Prison officials talk of at least six factions: the “Lobos,” “JR,” …

Gun battle between rival gangs at Ecuador prison leaves at least 68 dead
3 years, 1 month ago

Gun battle between rival gangs at Ecuador prison leaves at least 68 dead

LA Times  

The body of an inmate killed in a gang battle at the Litoral Penitentiary is lowered by police from the roof of the prison in Guayaquil, Ecuador, on Saturday. A prolonged gun battle between rival gangs inside Ecuador’s largest prison left at least 68 inmates dead and 25 wounded Saturday, while authorities said it took most of the day to …

Dozens of inmates killed in latest Ecuador prison clashes
3 years, 1 month ago

Dozens of inmates killed in latest Ecuador prison clashes

Al Jazeera  

Police say 58 prisoners killed and 12 wounded in another round of violence to hit Penitenciaria del Litoral in Guayaquil. Dozens of inmates have been killed in fierce clashes in a prison in Ecuador’s largest city of Guayaquil, according to authorities. “According to preliminary information, some 68 prisoners were killed and another 25 were wounded,” the Ecuador Prosecutor’s Office wrote …

Ecuador president declares state of emergency over drug violence
3 years, 2 months ago

Ecuador president declares state of emergency over drug violence

Al Jazeera  

President Guillermo Lasso orders the mobilisation of police and military in the streets as he struggles to curb drug-related violence. Ecuador’s President Guillermo Lasso has declared a state of emergency as the country grapples with a surge in drug-related violence, and ordered the police and military onto the streets. “In the streets of Ecuador there is only one enemy: drug …

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