World
Ecuador prison violence leaves at least 68 dead, dozens injured
At least 68 prisoners were killed and more than two dozen injured in overnight violence at Ecuador’s Penitenciaria del Litoral prison, the government said on Saturday, in what officials characterize as fights among rival gangs.
The prison, located in the southern city of Guayaquil, is the same prison where 119 inmates were killed in late September in the country’s worst-ever incident of prison violence, Reuters reported.
The government has blamed disputes between drug trafficking gangs for control of prisons for the violence.
Dozens were gathered outside the prison waiting for news of loved ones, who many said they had not heard from since Friday afternoon.
The latest disturbance was set off by a power vacuum following a gang leader’s release, governor of Guayas province Pablo Arosemena said in a press conference earlier in the day.