Ecuador Takes Back Control of Prison After Drug Gangs Frees Hostages
- WNG.org
Ecoador – Scores of hostages have been released from Ecuador’s gang-controlled prisons, the government has claimed, nearly a week after the South American country was shaken by a massive wave of violence.
“All of the hostages have been freed,” the Ecuadorian presidency announced on social media on Saturday night, as reported from the Guardian site.
It was unclear exactly how many captives had been rescued from the country’s notoriously overcrowded jails but last week the government said 158 prison guards were being held as well as 20 other employees.
Social media videos showed terrified prison guards being held and threatened by machete-wielding gang members who had commandeered many of Ecuador’s detention centres.
The brother of one prison guard who was abducted in Ambato, a city 95 miles south of Ecuador’s capital, Quito, confirmed his relative had been released on Saturday afternoon.
“Thank God everyone emerged safe and well and my brother is now at home with us,” he said on Sunday morning, amid reports that security forces were storming several large penitentiaries where prisoners had also risen up.
VIVA Militer: Tentara Ekuador di ibukota Quito
- ria.ru
Ecuador’s week of mayhem began in the early hours of last Monday when a notorious gang leader known as Fito reportedly vanished from his cell.
His whereabouts remains a mystery. A nationwide eruption of violence and turmoil unfolded in the subsequent days, as gangsters torched buildings, attacked security forces and planted car bombs in what was one of the most extreme outbursts of violence in Ecuador’s recent history.
In response, Ecuador’s president, Daniel Noboa, declared his country in a state of “internal armed conflict” and ordered a massive police and army crackdown on the gangs.
So far, 1,105 people have been arrested and five alleged “terrorists” killed while two police officers have also lost their lives, according to government figures.
