Six people are sentenced to preventive detention after violent acts in Ecuador

( Spanish) — The Ecuadorian Attorney General’s Office (FGE) reported this Thursday that it prosecuted seven people for the alleged crime of organized crime due to the violent events that took place in Guayaquil and Durán, both cities in the province of Guayas, on November 1.

The institution reported in a statement that it is investigating “whether there was financial payment for carrying out these acts.”

The Prosecutor’s Office explained that a judge ordered preventive detention for six of these people; and the other, a 15-year-old adolescent, is under “home internment.”

In a hearing held this Wednesday, the “elements of conviction collected in this investigative process were presented, among these are the informative and apprehension part of the detainees, the versions of the detainees, the evidence found at the scene of the events; among them, three firearms, twelve cell phones, drugs, ammunition of different caliber, US$ 8,310 in cash…”, the statement said.

has consulted the Ecuadorian Prosecutor’s Office if the defendants have legal representation.

“The magistrate had thirty days to close the tax investigation,” explained the FGE.

In the early hours of this Tuesday, November 1, there were hours of terror in Guayaquil when the Police reported several attacks with explosives against police units. The balance of the attacks until this Thursday is at least five dead policemen.

15 police officers and 3 members of the Armed Forces were also reported injured in incidents at the Guayas Number 1 Deprivation of Liberty Center in Guayaquil, according to the National Comprehensive Care Service for Adults Deprived of Liberty. The entity indicated this Thursday afternoon that after the events recorded, pavilion 2 of the prison has been controlled. The Guayaquil prison has 12 pavilions. It is unknown at the moment if incidents were recorded in other of the pavilions.

The government said this week’s wave of violence is a reaction by drug trafficking groups to operations in the country’s prisons.