February 2021 Ecuadorian prison riots

Last updated
Ecuador prison riot
Date23 February 2021 (2021-02-23)
VenuePrisons in 3 Ecuador provinces
Location Cuenca, Guayaquil & Latacunga
TypeRiot
CauseGang rivalry
MotiveTo gain criminal leadership
ParticipantsPrison inmates
Deaths79 inmates

On 23 February 2021, 79 inmates were killed and several others were injured in riots that took place simultaneously in four prisons in Ecuador. Authorities gave gang rivalry in an overcrowded prison system as the cause. [1] The violence happened in prisons located in the Guayas, Azuay, and Cotopaxi provinces, which contain nearly 70% of the total prison population in the country. [2]

Contents

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. [3] 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. [4]

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 and dismembered in pools of blood. [5] On February 24, the death toll of the inmates increased to 79. [6]

Response

Ecuadorian President Lenin Moreno declared a temporary state of emergency in the prison system, in order to control the prison violence. [7]

In the wake of the clashes on 28 September, Ecuador planned to pardon up to 2,000 inmates. [8]

November 2021 riots at Penitenciaria del Litoral

Riots on 13 November 2021 at Penitenciaria del Litoral, on the outskirts of Guayaquil, led to at least 68 deaths and 24 injured. [9]

See also

Related Research Articles

A prison riot is an act of concerted defiance or disorder by a group of prisoners against the prison administrators, prison officers, or other groups of prisoners.

A prison riot occurred at the CERESO state prison in Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, Mexico, on March 4, 2009. During the riots, at least 20 people were killed and 15 were injured. Although a police spokesman stated that no police or jail guards were killed during the riots, the Red Cross said that two policemen had been killed. The riot was a fight among several rival gangs, the "Barrio Azteca", "Los Mexicles" and "Artistas Asesinos" (AA).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Apodaca prison riot</span> 2012 riot in Nuevo León, Mexico

The Apodaca prison riot occurred on 19 February 2012 at a prison in Apodaca, Nuevo León, Mexico. Mexico City officials stated that at least 44 people were killed, with another twelve injured. The Blog del Narco, a blog that documents events and people of the Mexican Drug War anonymously, reported that the actual (unofficial) death toll may be more than 70 people. The fight was between Los Zetas and the Gulf Cartel, two drug cartels that operate in northeastern Mexico. The governor of Nuevo León, Rodrigo Medina, mentioned on 20 February 2012 that 30 inmates escaped from the prison during the riot. Four days later, however, the new figures of the fugitives went down to 29. On 16 March 2012, the Attorney General's Office of Nuevo León confirmed that 37 prisoners had actually escaped on the day of the massacre. One of the fugitives, Óscar Manuel Bernal alias La Araña, is considered by the Mexican authorities to be "extremely dangerous," and is believed to be the leader of Los Zetas in the municipality of Monterrey. Some other fugitives were also leaders in the organization.

The Altamira prison brawl was a deadly fight that occurred on 4 January 2012 in Altamira, Tamaulipas, Mexico. Officials from the state of Tamaulipas confirmed that 31 people were killed, with another thirteen injured. The fight started after a drug gang burst into a section of the prison where they were banned from, attacking their rival gang housed there, triggering the fight. During the altercation, the inmates used several kinds of cold weapons (non-firearms) to kill their opponents. The prisoners also used sticks and knives to massacre the members of the rival gang.

On 25 January 2013, a riot began at Uribana prison in Barquisimeto, Venezuela. Initial reports gave at least 50 people killed and over 120 people injured, and by 27 January a death toll of 61 was reported. Officials on the first day of the riot faulted media for breaking news in advance that the prison would be searched by the military. As the riot continued into a second day, human rights groups faulted overcrowding and conditions in the gang-dominated prison.

On August 23, 2013, a prison riot broke out at Palmasola, a maximum-security prison in Santa Cruz, Bolivia. The riot started when members of one cell block attacked a rival gang in another, using propane tanks as flame throwers. Thirty-one people were killed, including an 18-month-old child who was living at the prison. Thirty-seven others were seriously injured. The riot led to calls for reform in the Bolivian prison system, which is plagued by overcrowding and long delays in the trial system.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Topo Chico prison riot</span> 2016 prison riot in Mexico

On 10 February 2016, a prison riot broke out at the Topo Chico prison near Monterrey, in northern Mexico. 49 inmates were killed during the riot and ensuing fire. The riot was the most deadly in Mexican penal history, surpassing the death toll of the 2012 Apodaca prison riot. After the rioting, authorities uncovered 'luxury cells' prison leaders had. Among the items confiscated included televisions, mini-fridges, aquariums, and saunas.

The 2017 Brazil prison riots were a confrontation between two criminal organizations, the Primeiro Comando da Capital (PCC) and Comando Vermelho (CV), and their allies within prisons and peripheries of Brazilian cities. Its emergence is linked to the methods of the PCC to conquer new territories for drug trafficking, which involve the collection of insurance and economic centralization and whose rigid pseudo-state organization finds strong resistance from regional criminal organizations, with predominantly decentralized organization.

The Altamira prison riot occurred on 29 July 2019, when a riot broke out at the Centro de Recuperação Regional de Altamira prison in Altamira, Pará, Brazil due to drug turf disputes between rival gangs within the prison.

Events in the year 2021 in Ecuador.

The September 2021 Guayaquil prison riot occurred at the Litoral Penitentiary in Guayaquil, Ecuador on 28 September 2021. At least 123 inmates were killed and several others were injured in the riot that took place in that prison. It was the deadliest prison fight in the country's history and one of the deadliest in Latin American history.

The November 2021 Guayaquil prison riot occurred on 13 November 2021 at the Litoral Penitentiary in Guayaquil, Ecuador, killing at least 68 people and injuring 25.

The Litoral Penitentiary, known officially as Center for Social Rehabilitation of Men No. 1 of Guayaquil is the largest prison in Ecuador. It is located 16.5 km (10.3 mi) from Vía a Daule, on the outskirts of Guayaquil. The prison has twelve pavilions and has a capacity of five thousand inmates, although by July 2021 it housed around ten thousand. It is part of the Guayas Penitentiary Complex, which also includes the Guayas Regional Rehabilitation Center, La Roca Prison and the Provisional Detention Center.

In 2022, at least 77 inmates were killed during prison riots in Ecuador.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ecuadorian security crisis</span> Increased conflict of criminal organizations

Since around 2018, Ecuador has suffered a security crisis resulting from conflicts between criminal organizations with connections to drug trafficking. In recent years, coca leaf production has risen in neighboring Colombia and Peru, with both cocaine and coca base entering Ecuador by land and leaving by sea. The border with Colombia became more porous after Rafael Correa in 2009 declined to renew the US military's lease at Eloy Alfaro Military Base in Manta and stopped working with the United States' Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs. Following Correa was Lenín Moreno, who cut funding for the prison system and the National Police of Ecuador.

Los Lobos is an Ecuadorian criminal organization that specializes in drug trafficking and working as hitmen for international partners or allied groups. Los Lobos began as a splinter group of the Los Choneros drug cartel, but broke away in 2020 after the death of Jorge Luis Zambrano, along with Los Chone Killers and Los Tiguerones. The group has over 8,000 members and mainly operates in cities of Latacunga, Cuenca, and Machala, and also in the province of Pastaza. Los Lobos participates in the cocaine exports in Ecuador.

Events in the year 2024 in Ecuador.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2024 Ecuadorian conflict</span> Conflict with organized crime groups

On 9 January 2024, an armed conflict broke out in Ecuador involving the country's government against several organized crime groups, most notably the Los Choneros cartel.

Los Chone Killers, or Chone Killers, are an Ecuadorian criminal and terrorist organization known for their drug trafficking activities, assassinations, and other crimes. The group split from Los Choneros in 2020, along with Los Lobos and Los Tiguerones following the murder of Los Choneros leader Jorge Luis Zambrano. The group mainly operates in Guayas Province, in particular the city of Durán.

Los Tiguerones are an Ecuadorian crime syndicate that specializes in drug trafficking activities, assassinations, and other crimes. The group split from Los Choneros in 2020, along with Los Lobos and Los Chone Killers following the murder of Los Choneros leader Jorge Luis Zambrano. The group is based in Esmeraldas.

References

  1. Afp (2021-02-24). "At least 75 inmates dead in Ecuador prison riots". The Hindu . ISSN   0971-751X . Retrieved 2021-02-24.
  2. "At least 62 killed in Ecuadorean prison gang riots". The Indian Express . 2021-02-24. Retrieved 2021-02-24.
  3. "Prison riots in Ecuador leave 62 dead; violence occurred due to fights between rival gangs, say officials". Firstpost . 2021-02-24. Retrieved 2021-02-24.
  4. "Ecuador Confronts Unprecedented Levels of Prison Violence". InSight Crime . 2021-02-24. Retrieved 2021-02-25.
  5. "Dozens dead after Ecuador prison riots sparked by gang fights and escape bid". The Guardian . Associated Press. 2021-02-24. Retrieved 2021-02-24.
  6. "Ecuador increases death toll in prison riots to 79". Al Jazeera . Retrieved 2021-02-25.
  7. "62 Inmates Dead In Ecuador Prison Riots". NDTV . Retrieved 2021-02-24.
  8. "Ecuador to pardon thousands after 118 die in worst-ever prison riot". Reuters . Retrieved 2021-10-05.
  9. Valencia, Alexandra; Garcia, Yury (2021-11-14). "Ecuador prison violence leaves at least 68 dead, dozens injured". Reuters . Retrieved 2021-11-15.