At least 68 people were killed in heavy fighting at a prison in the Ecuadorian city of Guayaquil on Saturday. Dozens of detainees were injured. Which reports AP . news agency. Authorities, who entered the complex to restore order, found firearms and explosives.
Authorities say the detainees involved have ties to drug gangs. An attempt was made to blow up a wall and mattresses were set on fire to suffocate other detainees in the smoke. Such violent clashes with fatalities are more common in Ecuador. This year, nearly 300 people have died in violence in the often overcrowded prisons. Most confrontations involve settlements between drug gangs.
For example, 119 people were killed in the same prison complex in Guayaquil in September when rival drug gangs pelted each other for hours with guns, knives and explosives. The army was then deployed to somewhat restore order to the prison. A few weeks later, Ecuadorian President Guillermo Lasso declared a state of emergency over the ongoing drug violence in the South American country.
This emergency measure, which lasts for sixty days and is therefore still in force, will give the national police and the army more powers. For example, they are allowed to carry out weapon checks and drug inspections. “On the streets of Ecuador, there is only one enemy: drug trafficking,” the president said of the state of emergency.
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