Ecuador transfers gang leaders to maximum security prison

Two gang leaders who, according to the Ecuadorian authorities, are responsible for violence in prisons They were transferred on Friday to a maximum security one, the government said, as part of efforts to regain control of the Andean country’s prisons.

at least five police officers died earlier this month in attacks in reaction to the transfer of some 1,000 prisoners, while at least two inmates died in related acts of violence.

Ecuador’s prison system has faced structural problems for decades, but prison violence has skyrocketed since late 2020, killing at least 400 inmates.

The transferred leaders were identified by the Government as “Bermúdez” from the Los Lobos gang and “Anchundia” from the R7 gang, who are responsible for the latest deadly attacks in prisons in Quito and Santo Domingo, respectively.

President Guillermo Lasso has repeatedly blamed the violence, including inside prisons, on the retaliation from drug gangs for the efforts of his Government to combat them. Ecuador is used as a transit point for drugs bound for the United States and Europe.

“The government acts with all the rigor of the law to sanction the leaders of drug-terrorist mafias that provoked attacks; therefore, those who cause problems will be transferred to the maximum security prison,” Lasso’s press office said in a statement.

“The Government will not give truce to the mafias that try to take away the tranquility of the country’s homes,” he added.

The SNAI agency reopened the maximum security prison called La Roca, located in the city of Guayaquil, to transfer gang leaders since the middle of this year.

SNAI wrote on Twitter that it had begun the intervention with the support of the public forces in the prisons of Quito and Santo Domingo, in order to maintain order and guarantee security in those prisons.

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