At least 68 inmates dead in battle between Ecuador prison gangs

International

13-11-2021, 22:30

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INA - SOURCES

A prolonged gunbattle between rival gangs inside Ecuador’s largest prison killed at least 68 inmates and wounded 25 on Saturday, while authorities said clashes were still uncontrolled hours later at the Litoral Penitentiary, which recently saw the country’s worst prison bloodbath.

The killing erupted before dawn at the prison in the coastal city of Guayaquil in what officials said was the latest outbreak of fighting among prison gangs linked to international drug cartels.

Videos circulating on social media showed bodies, some burned, lying on the ground inside the prison.

In the initial fighting, which lasted eight hours, inmates “tried to dynamite a wall to get into Pavilion 2 to carry out a massacre. They also burned mattresses to try to to drown (their rivals) in smoke,” said the governor of Guayas province, Pablo Arosemena.

“We are fighting against drug trafficking,” Arosemena said. “It is very hard.”