Ecuador prison chief killed, second this month: officials

GUAYAQUIL: The director of Ecuador’s largest prison was killed in an armed attack on Thursday, the second murder in less than two weeks in the Latin American country, the SNAI prison agency said.
Maria Daniela Icazadirector of the notorious Litoral prison in the port city of Guayaquil, died from injuries he sustained “after an armed attack on the road” leading to the nearby town of Daule, the agency said.
She died while being taken to hospital, the agency said in a WhatsApp message, adding that a prison service official who was traveling with her was also injured in the incident.
Ecuador’s prisons are among the most dangerous in the world and many of them have been taken over by drug gangs.
The prisons have been under military control since January, when President Daniel Noboa declared a state of “internal armed conflict” after a wave of violence sparked by the escape of a powerful criminal.
Icaza’s death comes nine days after the head of a prison in the Amazonian province of Sucumbios, Alex Guevara, was killed in an armed attack while he was driving a car.
Two other workers who were with him were injured after unknown assailants opened fire on his vehicle.
And two weeks ago, two prison guards in Guayaquil were murdered on their way to work.
In 2023, Ecuador recorded a record 47 murders per 100,000 inhabitants, up from six murders per 100,000 inhabitants in 2018.
Once seen as a bastion of peace in Latin America, Ecuador has now been thrown into crisis by the rapid rise of international drug cartels that use the country’s ports, primarily Guayaquil, to ship drugs to the United States and Europe.
Noboa’s government claims that its fight against organized crime has reduced the number of homicides.
According to the Ministry of the Interior, 4,236 murders were reported between January and September this year, compared to 5,112 in the same period in 2023.

You May Also Like

More From Author