Ecuador prison gangs rounded up after guard abductions
HEAVILY armed soldiers have taken control of seven prisons in Ecuador where gang members had abducted more than 150 guards as part of a wave of coordinated violence that convulsed the South American nation last week.
Photographs released by the military showed troops in full combat gear, including flak jackets and machine guns, directing hundreds of prisoners stripped to their underwear and forced to lie on the floor, with their hands behind their heads.
The operation on Sunday came just hours after 158 guards and 20 administrative staff were released, apparently unharmed, following negotiations with gang leaders.
The operation, involving more than 1,000 troops, is the latest attempt by Daniel Noboa, the president, to wrest control of the country from the drug gangs, who have in recent years plunged Ecuador into a state of blood-spattered anarchy.
Last week, in response to the wave of violence, including explosions across the country and masked gang members storming a television station live on air, Mr Noboa officially declared Ecuador to be at “war” with the gangs, suspending constitutional rights and telling the military to “neutralise” gang members.
Norman Cano, a police colonel, said the raid on the Esmeraldas prison, on the Pacific coast, had been carried out in a “very calm way” respecting the human rights of the prisoners.
Soldiers also patrolled towns and cities across the country, enforcing a curfew from 11pm to 5am and searching for suspected gang members. Ecuador does not produce cocaine but has become a key transit hub for the drug from neighbouring Colombia and Peru.
Some commentators have suggested that Mr Noboa, 36, is attempting to emulate El Salvador’s authoritarian president, Nayib Bukele, 42, who has seen his approval rating soar above 80 per cent after taking similar action.
More than 1,400 people have been arrested so far, including six members of the Lobos, or Wolves, gang who last week attacked the main court in Guayaquil, the port city that has been the epicentre of the violence, using explosives.
Calm appears to be returning to Ecuador, although experts warn that reducing or eradicating the influence of the drug cartels in the country’s public institutions and neighbourhoods will probably be a tougher challenge.