Ecuador Declares State of Emergency Due to Prison Crisis

Ecuador has declared a state of emergency due to the prison crisis it has been experiencing since last weekend. The country is intensifying the search for a dangerous drug trafficker on the run, which led to the latest outbreak of violence in Ecuadorian prisons. In view of these events, Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa has decreed a state of emergency for 60 days. Last Sunday, the “disappearance” of the leader of one of the most feared criminal gangs in the country, Los Choneros, from the prison where he was serving a 34-year sentence, was reported. Just 24 hours later, on Monday morning, serious riots broke out in at least six of the country’s prisons, with inmates taking officials hostage.

In response to these incidents, President Noboa, who assumed power in November under the promise of returning security to Ecuadorians, said through social networks that the State will impose its full force to return order and recapture the escaped prisoner. The president is adamant that the times in which “hired assassins dictated to the government of the day what to do” are over, and sees the prison riots as a reaction to his government’s decision to go after criminal gangs with all the powers of the State.

“We will not negotiate with terrorists”

President Daniel Noboa wanted to show firmness before a society exhausted by violence and the counter-power to the State exercised by criminal gangs linked to drug trafficking, which was felt even during the last election campaign that ended with the murder of candidate Fernando Villavicencio.

“The government (has) undertaken actions that allow us to regain control of the detention centers that have been lost in recent years. In response, these narco-terrorist groups are trying to intimidate us and believe that we will give in to their demands,” said the Ecuadorian president in an address to the public.

Noboa announced that he had given “precise orders” to the public forces to regain control of the prisons. In this sense, the head of state justified the state of emergency so that “the armed forces have all the political and legal support for their actions”.

In his message, the president made clear that “we will not negotiate with terrorists”, warning “opportunist politicians” not to try to obtain political gain from the penitentiary crisis that the country has been experiencing for years.

The escape of “Fito”

The escape of the dangerous drug trafficking leader alias “Fito” on January 7 was the spark that caused the violent outbreak in Ecuador’s prisons. In an attempt to recapture him, the Ecuadorian government mobilized more than 3,000 police and armed forces personnel.

Macias was sentenced to 34 years in prison in 2011. This is not his first escape: after only 2 years in prison, in 2013 he managed to escape, along with other highly dangerous prisoners, from the maximum security prison known as La Roca, in Guayaquil. He did so by escaping in a sailboat on the Daule River, which runs parallel to the prison. Subsequently, he was arrested again and interned, but this did not put a stop to his criminal activity.

Since his imprisonment, he has become one of the protagonists of the violence reported in the country’s prisons. According to the Ecuadorian newspaper Expreso, when Macias learned that rival gangs Los Lobos and Los Tiguerones had planned an attack against him, he organized what is so far the most violent incident ever recorded: the deaths of 79 inmates in different prisons in the country, which occurred in 2021.

This situation is not exclusive to Ecuador; it has become common in Latin American prisons. In Colombia, the leadership of the Tren de Aragua criminal group was exercised by alias “Niño Guerrero” from a Venezuelan prison, with absolute impunity.

The corruption of the entities that manage prisons in the region, and the power that these drug lords still hold while in prison, calls into question the effectiveness of incarcerating these criminals, as it does little to nullify their criminal capacity.

Prison crisis in Ecuador

The prison crisis in Ecuador is nothing new. For years, various leaders of criminal gangs have been imposing their law inside the prisons, provoking all kinds of disorder and violence. Previous governments have decreed states of emergency in order to legalize the intervention of the army in the pacification of prisons, but the objective of annulling the power of these criminals has not been achieved. Since 2021, more than 400 deaths have been reported in Ecuador’s prisons due to clashes between rival gangs.

President Noboa’s security plan includes a new intelligence unit, tactical weapons for law enforcement and security forces, and a plan to temporarily confine dangerous prisoners in prison ships.

These measures are intended to impose the authority of the state, avoiding violence in overcrowded prisons where, in many cases, criminals continue to commit crimes.