Ecuadorian President Guillermo Lasso decreed Wednesday, September 29 “The state of exception” in all the prisons of Ecuador, in the aftermath of clashes between rival gangs that left more than 100 dead in a prison in the southwest of the country.
“I have just declared a state of emergency throughout the prison system at the national level”, announced Mr. Lasso on his Twitter account, while Ecuadorian prisons have for months been the scene of recurrent violence between criminal groups linked to drug trafficking.
Acabo de decretar el Estado de Excepción en todo el sistema carcelario a nivel nacional. In Guayaquil presided over … https://t.co/2rI3GVKVtP
“In Gayaquil, I will chair the security committee responsible for coordinating the actions necessary to control the emergency, guaranteeing the human rights of all those involved”, he explained.
These latest clashes, the deadliest this year, took place in the vast prison complex of Guayas, in Guayaquil, a port city and commercial hub in the southwest of the country. “More than 100 detainees were killed and 52 wounded” during the violence, the prison services (SNAI) announced on Wednesday evening.
A previous report, given by the police commander of Guayaquil, General Fausto Buenano, who led the operations to regain control of the buildings, reported 30 prisoners killed in these clashes, six of whom were beheaded. According to General Buenano, the victims wore “Impacts of projectiles from firearms and shrapnel from grenades”.
www.lemonde.fr