IIn violent clashes between criminal gangs and state security forces in Ecuador, prisoners have taken 178 correctional officers hostage. A total of 158 prison guards and 20 administrative staff are being held by mutinous prisoners in seven prisons, the prison authority said on Thursday.
Recently, criminal gangs had violent clashes in the prisons of the South American country and had taken control of numerous guards. According to the prison administration, the head of the powerful gang “Los Choneros”, Adolfo Macías alias “Fito”, and the leader of the gang “Los Lobos”, Fabricio Colón Pico, apparently managed to escape.
Many prisons in Ecuador are controlled by crime syndicates. Often the security forces simply ensure that the prisoners remain in the detention centers. Within the walls they are largely left to their own devices.
The government of President Daniel Noboa recently declared around 20 criminal groups as terrorist organizations by decree and sent the armed forces to fight the gangs. Across the country, members of criminal gangs then carried out explosive attacks, set vehicles on fire and attacked security forces.
Multiple gangs with ties to powerful Mexican cartels are fighting for control of drug trafficking routes. Ecuador is a major transit country for cocaine from Colombia, Bolivia and Peru, which is smuggled to the United States and Europe.
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