Hostage Crisis: Inmates Seize 50 Guards and 7 Police Officers in 6 Ecuadorian Prisons
Ecuadorian authorities have confirmed that prisoners at a correctional facility in Cuenca have taken 50 guards and seven police officers hostage.
The incident began on Wednesday afternoon following the transfer of inmates from a prison in Cotopaxi province.
"The public is informed that as of 18:00 this Thursday, August 31, 7 police members and 50 servers of the Penitentiary Security and Surveillance Corps (CSVP) are being held in six detention centers," stated the National Prisons Agency (SNAI).
The SNAI noted that this event appears to be a response from criminal groups to recent security interventions within the country's prisons. Authorities are actively taking measures to restore order within the penitentiary system.
This hostage crisis follows two car bomb explosions in Quito, which were allegedly in response to ongoing efforts by authorities to reform the nation's prison system.
President Guillermo Lasso commented on these events, saying, "There are violent actions like that of the two cars burned in Quito last night, clearly that's a reaction to an action. The action of imposing order in the prisons, the reaction to intimidate."
A circulating video on social media shows detained police and correctional officers appealing to the government to secure their release.
Ecuador's prisons have been marked by power struggles among drug trafficking gangs. In response to violent clashes between criminal organizations, Lasso declared a 60-day state of emergency for the entire penitentiary system on July 24, granting him the authority to deploy the military inside jails.
Violent disputes between organized crime gangs have resulted in the deaths of over 430 inmates in Ecuadorian prisons since 2021.
