Escalating Prison Violence: Ecuador Rocked by Two Deadly Riots This Week, 31 Killed

Ecuador is grappling with a surge in prison violence, with at least 31 inmates killed in two separate riots this week. The latest incident, on Thursday, saw 17 people die in a prison in the coastal city of Esmeraldas, near the Colombian border. Police discovered victims inside cellblocks, with gruesome images circulating on social media showing blood-stained bodies, at least two of which were decapitated.

This follows an earlier riot on Monday in southern Ecuador, in the port town of Machala, which resulted in 14 deaths and 14 injuries. That incident, attributed to gang fighting, also involved a prison guard being killed and officers taken hostage. The country has a long history of deadly prison violence, largely fueled by gang wars within its correctional facilities, which have claimed approximately 500 lives since February 2021.

The violence underscores the ongoing struggle for control within Ecuador’s prisons, as rival gangs with ties to Mexican and Colombian cartels vie for power. President Daniel Noboa had previously declared a “state of internal armed conflict” and deployed the military to manage prisons, though some penitentiaries, including Machala, were recently returned to police control. Ecuador, strategically located between the world’s top cocaine producers, has seen a dramatic increase in violence as it becomes a major transit point for drug trafficking.

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