Ecuador’s president, Guillermo Lasso, has declared a 60-day state of emergency throughout the country’s prisons and authorized the armed forces to retake control of jails, following violence in the country’s most notorious prison that left 18 dead and a string of protests in which inmates took nearly 100 guards hostage.
The measure – the second state of emergency that Lasso has ordered in less than 24 hours – will be in effect for 60 days and orders the immediate mobilization of the military and police in an effort to regain control of the prisons.
Clashes – including gunfire and explosions – between organized criminal gangs have raged since Saturday at the Penitenciaría del Litoral prison in the city of Guayaquil.
“So far the death of 18 prisoners has been confirmed after the clashes registered since Saturday,” the prosecutor’s office tweeted on Tuesday, adding that more than 10 people, including one police officer, were injured during the incidents.
The Penitenciaría del Litoral has a capacity for about 9,500 inmates, but in the first quarter of this year exceeded that number by almost 3,000.
It is considered one of the most dangerous prisons in Ecuador. A gang battle in 2021 killed 119 inmates. In April, 12 inmates were killed and three injured during a riot.
Meanwhile, prisoners in 13 other prisons declared a hunger strike on Monday and are holding 96 prison guards hostage to demand better sanitary conditions and food, among other issues.
Ecuador has long been plagued by prison violence, with this latest surge taking place amid campaigning for elections scheduled for 20 August, pushing some presidential candidates to pledge prison reforms, including electronic surveillance systems and more prison officers.
The SNAI prison authority has worked to regain control of the prison since early Tuesday, it said in a posting on the social media platform X, previously known as Twitter, which was accompanied by images of heavily equipped police and military entering the Penitenciaría del Litoral.
Military intervention in Ecuador’s prisons will continue until control has been retaken and there is no threat to prisoners or officials, the government said on Tuesday.
Lasso also declared a state of emergency in the provinces of Manabí and Los Ríos, as well as in the city of Durán on Monday, after the mayor of the city of Manta, Agustín Intriago, was shot dead on Sunday.
Lasso has regularly declared states of emergency in the country’s prisons as he tries to tackle violence which has surged since 2021, claiming the lives of hundreds of prisoners.
The prison system has faced structural problems for decades, prompting concern from the United Nations and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.