At least 43 prisoners died in clashes between rival gangs on Monday (May 9th) in a prison in Ecuador, the Ecuadorian prosecutor's office announced.
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“
Forty-three detainees have so far died
,” the Attorney General's office announced on its Twitter account, while Interior Minister Patricio Carrillo announced 41 dead at a press conference.
The violence took place in Bellavista prison, in the province of Santo Domingo de los Tsachilas, about 80 km west of Quito.
On the spot, wounded with facial wounds were taken care of by ambulances and relatives of the detainees crowded around the penitentiary center to try to obtain information, AFP noted.
The clashes between members of two rival gangs erupted in the early morning, said the minister, causing the triggering of "
security protocols
" to contain "
disorders
" in the prison.
About 40 prisoners who had taken advantage of the crush tried to escape but were taken back by the police, added Patricio Carrillo.
Clashes, often extremely violent, are recurrent in Ecuadorian prisons, where nearly 350 prisoners have died since February 2021. The last episode took place in early April in a prison in the south of the country, where 20 prisoners had found dead and some bodies were mutilated.
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According to the government, rival gangs of drug traffickers, infiltrated or controlled by Mexican cartels, are waging an all-out war for control of overcrowded prisons, a war that authorities have so far been powerless to stem.
In 2021, Ecuador seized a record 210 tons of drugs, mostly cocaine.
For 2022, seizures to date have reached around 70 tons.
Bordered by Colombia and Peru, the world's largest cocaine producers, Ecuador serves as a port of departure for illicit shipments, mainly to the United States and Europe.