The Guayaquil Regional Prison was the scene of a new prison riot this Wednesday, March 27 in Ecuador. The fugitive drug trafficker 'Fito', leader of the Los Choneros criminal gang, was held in this prison. The riot is the first since President Daniel Noboa managed to control the prison crisis experienced at the beginning of the year, with a declaration of “internal armed conflict” and the subsequent militarization of the prisons.
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A new prison riot broke out this Wednesday, March 27 in Ecuador at the Guayaquil Regional Prison.
Videos spread on social networks show a fire from inside one of the pavilions, apparently due to burned mattresses.
The mutiny was briefly confirmed by the National Service for Comprehensive Attention to Persons Deprived of Liberty (SNAI) and the Municipal Transit Agency (ATM) of Guayaquil indicated that the road that passes in front of the prison has been closed due to the police operation that is carried out in its vicinity.
The Guayaquil Regional Prison has been one of the most intervened by the Police and the Armed Forces during the state of emergency decreed by the Government, with recurring operations to seize weapons and objectives prohibited from the prison population.
Drug trafficker José Adolfo Macías Villamar, alias 'Fito', escaped from this prison between the end of December and the beginning of January.leader of the criminal gang Los Choneros, who was serving a 34-year prison sentence for drug trafficking, illicit association and homicide.
Until before the start of the state of emergency, Los Choneros, the largest and oldest criminal gang in Ecuador, had control over the interior of the prison, where they charged prisoners quotas for the type of cell they used and also for food. among other elements of a broad extortion network, according to witnesses.
#URGENT #LAST MINUTE Deep Guayaquil 📍 Blood 🩸 And Misery 📲 NOW strong shooting in the regional prison, there are also several confrontations “. News in development 📲🗞️ crisis in Ecuador.
Serious tension due to crime.
Terrible situation… pic.twitter.com/gatKEMNDk1— National Unit of GUAYAS Organizations (@UnidadN593) March 28, 2024
This prison complex is part of the prison complex of the coastal province of Guayas, whose capital is Guayaquil, where there are five prisons in which approximately 12,000 people are held.
The Regional, officially called Guayas Social Rehabilitation Center Number 4, is the second largest prison in Ecuador with about 4,500 inmates inside, only surpassed by the adjacent Litoral Penitentiary, which has about 5,500 inmates inside.
Read alsoFito, the mastermind of crime that puts Ecuador in check
This new riot occurs less than two weeks after the 30-day extension of the state of emergency decreed by Noboa with the aim of combating organized crime gangs, which he has come to consider as terrorist groups and non-belligerent actors. state.
This decision led to the deployment of the military in the prisons with the aim of wresting control of the prisons from the criminal gangs, who dominated many of the prison centers, where their rivalries have caused a series of massacres since 2020 in which more than 500 prisoners.
During the militarization of prisons, several organizations have denounced human rights violations by the Armed Forces, an accusation that the military establishment has always flatly rejected, arguing that its actions comply with legality and human rights.
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