Gang-related deaths in Ecuador’s prisons increase by 600%

The number of deaths in Ecuador's prisons increased by 600% in 2021 due to gang feuds, General Giovanni Ponce, head of the anti-narcotics directorate, told Milenio.

Mexican criminal organizations such as the Sinaloa and Jalisco Nueva Generación cartels hired local gangs to control their operations in Ecuador, which has led to an increase in prison conflicts. The local gangs involved include Los Choneros, Los Lagartos and Tiguerones.

Out of the 40,000 prisoners currently in Ecuador's prisons, some 25,000 are involved with gangs working for Mexican cartels, according to a report by the Police Penitentiary Security Coordination.

So far in 2021, prison riots in Ecuador have left more than 320 dead, reported the newspaper Semana.

Pablo Arosamena, governor of Guayas province, told local media that drug trafficking profits can be very large. For example, a brick containing one kilogram of cocaine costs up to $35,000 outside of Ecuador, but within the country, profits can exceed $100,000.

Control over these profits has led to clashes between gangs linked to drug trafficking in prisons such as Guayas 1, where at least 68 people have died in the most recent clash.

Ecuador's prison system has been under a state of emergency since September 29, following a massacre that left 119 people dead as a result of a dispute between gangs linked to drug trafficking.

One of the videos published on social networks shows several men setting fire to some corpses piled up in Guayas 1. Upon noticing that one of the bodies remains alive, one of the inmates attacked the survivor with a machete.

Ecuador’s 65 prisons have a maximum capacity of 30,000 inmates. However, the prison population is around 39,000, 30% overcapacity. Guayas 1 penitentiary, has 60% more inmates than its maximum capacity, reported France 24.