Ecuador prison riot leaves 43 dead in latest bloody episode – The Guardian
Inmates are feared dead after a deadly prison riot broke out between rival drug gangs in Ecuador. The death toll has reached nearly 400 since 2021 as violence has spiked to unprecedented levels fueled by rivalry between drug trafficking gangs.
Ecuadorean social media showed mutilated bodies strewn in a courtyard in the jail. Local television broadcast images of relatives gathering outside the prison, desperate for news of their loved ones.
Ecuador is a strategic smuggling route for cocaine due to its long Pacific coastline and large shipping and fishing fleets. The leader of a rival drug gang transferred to the prison is the cause of this deadly outbreak.
Fresh fruit shipments are prone to contamination from hidden cocaine smuggling.
In the first four months of 2022, more than 85 tons of drugs were seized in Ecuador, double the amount registered last year. Most of the drugs were already in containers, about to leave for North American and predominantly European ports.
The authorities in Ecuador have detected new routes for drugs to leave the country. In the first four months, 50 shipments of drugs have been seized in Ecuadorian ports, double the amount seized in the same period in 2020.
Read more on this story at the following additional news sources:
- Ecuador prison riot leaves 43 dead in latest bloody episode The Guardian
- More than 40 dead in Ecuador prison riot CNN
- Dozens dead in latest Ecuador prison riot Al Jazeera English
- Another Ecuador prison clash leaves 43 inmates dead The Associated Press – en Español
- Ecuador’s latest prison riot leaves at least 43 dead Reuters Canada
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