Clashes at a notorious Ecuadorian prison kill 13 inmates as government grapples with drug violence

QUITO, Ecuador (AP) – Clashes that erupted among prisoners in one of Ecuador’s most notorious prisons left 13 inmates dead, authorities said Monday as the country grapples with drug violence and narcotics shipments that are often run from inside prisons.

The violence broke out on Sunday following the “detonation of an explosive device” outside the Machala Prison in southwestern Ecuador, according to the National Service for People Deprived of Liberty. The prison agency said an investigation was underway and forensic teams were examining the dead to determine how they were killed.

Prisons in Ecuador have remained dangerous despite government efforts to boost security by bringing in the military.

Last month, 31 inmates were killed in Machala after efforts to transfer a group of inmates led to a riot. And in September, a fight between members of two gangs left 14 prisoners dead at Machala.

Ecuador’s homicide rate has tripled over the past four years, as the South American nation becomes a key transit point for cocaine shipments headed to Mexico and the United States. Gang members behind bars in Ecuador run extortion rackets and drug shipments from the prisons.

On Monday, legislators from Ecuador’s ruling party presented a bill to amend the nation’s constitution so that it would be harder for prisoners to gain special benefits, like reductions on their sentences.

Last year, dozens of prison guards were abducted and a television station came under attack, after one of Ecuador’s most notorious gang leaders escaped from prison. The outburst prompted President Daniel Noboa to declare a state of emergency and issue a decree, which states that the country is in an internal conflict against drug cartels.

Ecuador’s military took charge of the nation’s prisons following Noboa’s decree, but the situation in many facilities is still tenuous with the Interamerican Commission of Human Rights in January urging the government to investigate crimes committed in prisons and protect the lives of inmates.

The international agency recorded at least 591 killings in Ecuador’s prisons from 2020 to 2024.