Ecuadorian authorities reported that the number of prisoners murdered at the Turi Deprivation of Liberty Center in the region of Cuenca, capital of the province of Azuay (south of the country) has risen to 20. Of these, six were beheaded during a confrontation between detainees that took place on Sunday (3).
The Azuay Prosecutor’s Office informed the newspaper El Universo that a preliminary investigation had been launched to find out who ordered the massacre. Since last year, Ecuador’s prison system has been the scene of violent clashes between prisoners.
In 2021 alone, a total of 316 inmates died in Ecuadorian prisons. The government of President Guillermo Lasso pointed out that these massacres were caused by gangs that dispute control of drug trafficking routes and even declared a state of exception to fight drug traffickers.
In Turi, another massacre had already been recorded in February last year, when 33 prisoners were killed, most of them beheaded and quartered. About 800 police and military personnel were deployed to regain control of the prison on Sunday.
According to El Universo, until early this Monday afternoon (4), five of the 20 bodies had been identified. In a sweep of Turi prison, authorities seized 50 cell phones, 127 bladed weapons and 1,312 liters of alcohol.
In a statement on Twitter, Ecuador’s Secretariat of Social Communication reported that psychosocial assistance had been provided to 101 people and that the first phase of identification and fingerprinting had been completed. In the morning, 80 relatives of prisoners were attended to.
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