On 23 February 2021, 79 inmates were killed and several others were injured in riots that took place simultaneously in four prisons in

Ecuador Ecuador ( ; ; Quechua: ''Ikwayur''; Shuar: ''Ecuador'' or ''Ekuatur''), officially the Republic of Ecuador ( es, República del Ecuador, which literally translates as "Republic of the Equator"; Quechua: ''Ikwadur Ripuwlika''; Shuar: ''Eku ...

. Authorities gave gang rivalry in an overcrowded prison system as the cause. The violence happened in prisons located in the Guayas,

Azuay Azuay (), Province of Azuay is a province of Ecuador, created on 25 June 1824. It encompasses an area of . Its capital is Cuenca. It is located in the south center of Ecuador in the highlands. Its mountains reach above sea level in the nationa ...

and

Cotopaxi Cotopaxi () is an active stratovolcano in the Andes Mountains, located in Latacunga city of Cotopaxi Province, about south of Quito, and northeast of the city of Latacunga, Ecuador. It is the second highest summit in Ecuador, reaching a h ...

provinces, which contain nearly 70% of the total prison population in the country.

Background

According to officials, the riot began as several rival prison gangs were fighting for leadership and they clashed inside detention centers around the country. Authorities claim that the fight for leadership began back in December when Jorge Luis Zambrano "Rasquiña", leader of Los Choneros, the most powerful gang within Ecuadorian prisons, was murdered in a shopping mall in Manta, Ecuador, a few months after being released. The riots are reported to have been precipitated by a weapon search carried out on the day prior to the riots, where two firearms were seized from members of Los Choneros. The police believe that these firearms were going to be used to kill the leaders of the other four prison gangs that had formed an alliance against Los Choneros. News of the firearms seizure alerted rival gang members and they promptly organized and launched a coordinated attack against the leaders of Los Choneros in four different prisons.

Casualties

Early reports confirmed that at least 50 inmates were killed following the violence. 800 police officers were required to quell the violence. Some photographs and videos were spread on social media which showed the inmates

decapitated Decapitation or beheading is the total separation of the head from the body. Such an injury is invariably fatal to humans and most other animals, since it deprives the brain of oxygenated blood, while all other organs are deprived of the i ...

and

dismembered Dismemberment is the act of cutting, ripping, tearing, pulling, wrenching or otherwise disconnecting the limbs from a living or dead being. It has been practiced upon human beings as a form of capital punishment, especially in connection with ...

in pools of blood. On February 24, the death toll of the inmates increased to 79.

Response

Ecuadorian President

Lenin Moreno Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov. ( 1870 – 21 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin,. was a Russian revolutionary, politician, and political theorist. He served as the first and founding head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 to 19 ...

declared a temporary

state of emergency A state of emergency is a situation in which a government is empowered to be able to put through policies that it would normally not be permitted to do, for the safety and protection of its citizens. A government can declare such a state du ...

in the prison system, in order to control the prison violence. In the wake of the clashes on 28 September, Ecuador plans to

pardon A pardon is a government decision to allow a person to be relieved of some or all of the legal consequences resulting from a criminal conviction. A pardon may be granted before or after conviction for the crime, depending on the laws of the ju ...

up to 2,000 inmates.

November 2021 riots at Penitenciaria del Litoral

Reuters Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters Corporation. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world. The agency was estab ...

reports 68 dead at last count for the number of prisoners were killed in a new wave of terror and over a dozen seriously wounded in another event on the 13th of November 2021 riots at Penitenciaria del Litoral, on the outskirts of Guayaquil.

References

{{Prison riots and uprisings 2021 in Ecuador 2021 riots Prison uprisings in Ecuador February 2021 events in South America Massacres in Ecuador Massacres in 2021 Cuenca, Ecuador Guayaquil Cotopaxi Province