Violence continues in Ecuador: director of prison in Amazonian province shot dead

He The director of a prison in Ecuador, in the Amazonian province of Sucumbíos, bordering Colombia, was shot dead on Tuesday, According to the National Service for Comprehensive Care of Adults Deprived of Liberty (SNAI), the state’s penitentiary unit.

The SNAI indicated that the director of that prison, whom it identified as Alex Guevara, along with two other officials, were victims of an armed attack. on a section of the highway leading to the city of El Coca, the capital of the neighboring province of Orellana.

The director of the prison, also known officially as the Sucumbíos Deprivation of Liberty Center (CPL) Number 1, died in the attack. The other two officers were injured and taken to a hospital for medical attention, the source added.

The police have activated the relevant protocols to investigate the case, while the prison institution will take legal action to clarify the facts and ensure that the crime does not go unpunished.

In its statement, SNAI said that the murdered director of the Sucumbíos prison “dedicated his life to the management and improvement of the country’s national social rehabilitation system.” “In these moments of mourning, we reiterate our commitment to justice and security,” SNAI concluded.

Local media released an image of the vehicle in which the officers were travelling, with several bullet holes in the windshield.

Last week, two female prison officers were murdered on their way to work in a prison in Guayaquil (southwest), one of the most violent cities in Ecuador due to criminal gangs fighting over drug trafficking routes.

Last April, Cosme Parrales, then director of the El Rodeo prison in the coastal city of Portoviejo, the capital of the coastal province of Manabí, was also shot dead, five days after taking office.

Ecuador has been suffering from an escalation of violence for about four years, led by organized crime gangs who are fighting for control of prisons and territories in cities.

Between 2021 and 2023, more than 500 prisoners were murdered in Ecuadorian prisons, most of them in a series of massacres in clashes between rival gangs.

Last January, Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa elevated the fight against organized crime to the category of “internal armed conflict,” thus classifying criminal gangs as terrorist groups and non-state belligerents.

The violence unleashed in Ecuador led it to be listed as the country with the most homicides per capita in 2023, registering 47.2 murders per 100,000 inhabitants, according to the Ecuadorian Observatory of Organized Crime.

According to authorities, the mafias are mainly dedicated to drug trafficking, but have also expanded their operations to illegal mining, extortion and arms trafficking, among other crimes.

The government of President Daniel Noboa maintains that homicides have been reduced thanks to its offensive against organized crime. Between January and September of this year, 4,236 murders have been reported, while in the same period in 2023 there were 5,112, according to the Ministry of the Interior.