Ecuadorian police have taken back control of a Guayaquil jail following a riot between inmates.
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– Everything is calm. The inmates are back in their cells. They no longer have control over the cell departments, says police chief Tannya Varela.
The announcement came late Thursday night local time after a huge security operation. More than 900 police officers were deployed to regain control of the prison.
At least five of the 118 who were found dead had their heads cut off.
Authorities have called the incident the worst prison massacre in the country’s history.
–Weapons, knives and explosives
President Guillermo Lasso declared a state of emergency in Ecuador’s prison system, which allows the government to send police and soldiers to prisons.
It was Tuesday morning local time that a fight broke out between criminal gangs in the prison. The clashes lasted for more than five hours. Apparently, weapons, knives and explosives were used.
– It is unfortunate that the prisons are made the scene of a power struggle between criminal gangs, Lasso said.
War zone
Pictures have been circulating on social media from inside the prison. Dozens of people are dead there, and the crime scenes look like war zones.
On Wednesday, family and friends of the inmates gathered outside, awaiting news. Several cried when they told journalists how their loved ones had been brutally killed, writes the news agency AP.
Relatives have been offered crisis help, psychological help and food, Lasso stated on Wednesday.
Ledy Zúñiga, who was previously Ecuador’s Minister of Justice and also the chief responsible for the rehabilitation of the country’s criminals, says that there has never been an “incident that has been similar or close to this”.
She further regrets that no measures have been introduced after similar incidents earlier this year.
Several collisions
In September, suspected gang members attacked a prison in Guayaquil with armed drones, and in July, a total of 21 people were killed in riots in prisons in Cotopaxi and Guayaquil.
In February, 79 people were killed in violent battles between rival gangs in several prisons.
Lasso says that the government will speed up a program that will improve the countries’ prisons. A total of 24 million dollars will be spent, corresponding to just over 200 million kroner.
The first item on the list is investments in infrastructure and technology in the Litoral prison in Guayaquil.
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