A shootout between two rival gangs inside the Guayaquil Penitentiary, Ecuador left at least 68 dead and 25 people injured this Saturday morning, reports the Prosecutor's Office of that country.
The violence lasted for almost eight hours and authorities attribute it to a fight by prison gangs linked to international drug cartels, the AP news agency reported.
Several videos that went viral on social media showed bodies, some burned, lying on the ground inside the prison.
The prisoners tried to blow up a wall to enter pavilion 2 and commit a massacre.
They also burned mattresses to try to drown (their rivals) in smoke, "said Pablo Arosemena, governor of Guayas, the province where the capital is located, in statements collected by AP.
"We are fighting drug trafficking," Arosemena said.
"It is very difficult".
Several police officers stand guard on the roof of the Litoral prison in Guayaquil, Ecuador, after a massacre that left at least 68 dead between the night and the early hours of Saturday, November 13. Jose Sanchez / AP
According to the Ecuadorian newspaper El Universo, during the early hours of Friday, hours before the attack, three inmates managed to get out of their cells and reached the outside of the penitentiary to collect weapons and ammunition that several subjects left on the street.
The guards intercepted them when they tried to enter with the arsenal.
The police seized grenades, dynamite, two rifles, five pistols and about 5,000 cartridges of different calibers, among other pieces.
The prisoners who left were arrested again and transferred to a flagrante delicto prison.
[At least 14 killed in a riot in a Guatemalan prison]
Police commander Tanya Varela said that using drones they saw that inmates in three pavilions were armed with guns and explosives and were trying to enter pavilion 2, which was without its leader who had been released earlier this week, explains AP.
Violence in Ecuador's prisons has become an uncontrolled problem.
President Guillermo Lasso declared a state of emergency in the prison system in early October, after another confrontation between gang members from the same prison that left about 120 dead.
[Police kill suspect and neighbors respond with violence in Santo Domingo]
In February, another 79 inmates died in simultaneous riots in several prisons.
So far this year, more than 300 inmates have been killed in clashes in prisons across the country, the AP notes.
Several people were present on the outskirts of the prison looking for information on their imprisoned relatives.
“Enough of this.
When will they stop the killing?
This is a prison, not a slaughterhouse, they are human beings, "Francisca Chancay, 55, whose brother has been in jail for eight months, told AP.
Images of violence and drama caused by the massacre in a prison in Ecuador cause a stir
Sept.
30, 202101: 36
During the night, several inmates transmitted their phones through Facebook to show what was happening and ask for help.
As explained by the Chief of Police Tanya Varela, a team of officers entered to try to control the violence but had to leave because "conditions were adverse all night," reported the newspaper El País.
One of the problems in Ecuadorian prisons is overcrowding.
The country has 40,000 inmates in its prison system, including some 8,500 in the Litoral.
According to data from the prison services, that prison was designed to house 5,000 people, according to the AP.
