DEADLY An ambulance leaves from the Litoral penitentiary after a riot in Guayaquil, Ecuador on Sept. 28, 2021. A police and military operation managed to regain control of the regional prison after five hours, according to a statement from Ecuador’s prison service, but death toll has reached more than 100. Earlier, the confirmed death toll had stood at 30 but regional police commander Fausto Buenaño said bodies found in the prison's pipelines were still being identified. Col. Mario Pazmiño, former director of Ecuador's military intelligence, said the bloody fighting shows that "transnational organized crime has permeated the structure" of Ecuador's prison system, adding Mexico's Sinaloa and Jalisco New Generation cartels operated through local gangs. In July, President Guillermo Lasso decreed a state of emergency in Ecuador's prison system following several violent episodes that resulted in more than 100 inmates being killed.

Source: Manila Times September 29, 2021 22:41 UTC