Ecuador’s security forces have regained control of several prisons, liberating over 200 officials held hostage amidst escalating tensions. The nation’s security crisis unfolded as the government and powerful narco gangs engaged in all-out warfare following the escape of a dangerous drug lord.
Last week, inmates in gang-controlled prisons sparked riots, seizing prison guards and administrative staff as a wave of street violence claimed 19 lives. Unverified images on social media intensified public fear with depictions of looting, brutal murders, and other attacks.
On Sunday, the army declared “total control” in Cuenca, sharing videos of blown-up prison walls and hundreds of subdued inmates. General Pablo Velasco reported the recovery of six centers and ongoing efforts to secure the final prison in Cotopaxi, a site of recent brutal massacres. Authorities announced the release of 201 hostages from prisons across seven provinces.
President Daniel Noboa expressed gratitude for the armed forces, police, and SNAI in a post on X, formerly Twitter, celebrating the release of prison guards and administrative staff. Images broadcast by the police captured tearful, exhausted guards, supported by colleagues, with one prison employee expressing relief in a video on social media, waving the Ecuadoran flag in southern Cotopaxi province.
– State of emergency –
Once a bastion of peace situated between major cocaine producers, Ecuador has been plunged into crisis after years of expansion by the transnational cartels that use its ports to ship the drug to the United States and Europe.
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The latest crisis was triggered by the escape from Guayaquil prison of one of the country’s most powerful narcotics gang bosses, Jose Adolfo Macias, known by the alias “Fito,” who headed the country’s main gang “Los Choneros.”
The government declared a state of emergency and curfew, infuriating gangsters who declared “war” against civilians and security forces.
Noboa in turn said the country was “in a state of war” against 22 gangs.
He deployed to the streets over 22,000 security forces, who have frisked and stripped down young men in search of the tattoos identifying them as a member of one of the gangs.
Authorities have reported more than 1,300 arrests, eight “terrorists” killed and 27 escaped prisoners recaptured in the operation. Two police officers have also been killed.
– ‘We are going to win’ –
Noboa has vowed not to bow before the violence, giving orders to “neutralize” the criminal groups responsible.
“I believe we are going to win and I will not stop fighting until we do,” he told the BBC on Friday.
Narco gangs often use prisons as criminal offices, from where they manage drug trafficking, order assassinations, administer the proceeds of crime and fight to the death with rivals for power.
It is in the prisons that much of the gang wars are fought, with brutal clashes between inmates leaving more than 460 dead, many beheaded or burned alive, since February 2021.
Ecuador’s murder rate quadrupled between 2018 and 2022, as the criminal gangs found a foothold in the country.
Last year was the worst yet, with 7,800 murders and a record 220 tons of drugs seized.
Noboa has announced he plans to build two “super maximum” security prisons with a capacity for more than 3,000 people, with proposals for future “prison ships” also on the table.
