The authorities of Ecuador reported this Saturday, January 13, that 41 of the 178 prison officials held by prisoners in various prisons in the country were released and another managed to escape. The prison service also confirmed the death of a guard in one of the prisons and indicated that another 136 workers remain hostage. The prison crisis in Ecuador has worsened in the last week, within a wave of violence that has also taken to the streets and led the Government to declare a state of emergency and “internal armed conflict” to try to restore order.
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A guard escaped and another 41 members of prison staff who were being held by inmates in prisons in Ecuador were released, the SNAI prison agency confirmed this Saturday, January 13, adding that 136 workers remain captive.
The National Service for Comprehensive Attention to Persons Deprived of Liberty (SNAI) explained in a statement that among those released there are 24 agents of the Penitentiary Security and Surveillance Corps (CSVP), as well as 17 administrative employees.
They were joined by a penitentiary agent who was held hostage in the prison of the Andean city of Loja, in the south of the country, and managed to escape by jumping over the wall of that center to be assisted by the military guarding the exterior.
A total of 136 officials remain hostage
However, the prison organization clarified that so far “133 CSVP servers and 3 members of administrative staff are still detained.”
Likewise, he stated that on Friday night law enforcement recaptured two inmates who had tried to escape from a prison in the port city of Guayaquil, where it had been reported that six inmates had escaped.
In that same center, according to the SNAI, early this Saturday there was a confrontation between members of the law enforcement forces and inmates in which one prison officer died and another was injured.
Meanwhile, in the prison of the Andean city of Cuenca, inmates were seen on the roofs early Saturday morning and gunshots were heard inside, so the CSVP articulated actions with police and soldiers “to restore the order,” the SNAI added in its report.
On January 9, President Daniel Noboa declared an “internal armed conflict” in the country and designated around twenty armed groups as “terrorist organizations,” after armed men violently broke into a public television channel in Guayaquil.
The violent acts worsened after the Government decreed a state of emergency following the escape of several prisoners, including the leader of the 'Los Choneros' gang, Adolfo Macías, alias 'Fito'.
The Police and the Armed Forces maintain their operations in prisons and throughout the country. More than 800 people have been arrested since last Monday.
Ecuador is grappling with a security crisis that worsened this week with the assault on a television station, unexplained explosions in several cities and the kidnapping of police officers.
According to the Government, armed groups appear to be reacting to President Daniel Noboa's plans to address the unprecedented crisis of violence.
With EFE and Reuters
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