The Ecuadorian armed forces will continue to support the police, controlling access to the Ecuadorian prisons as part of the state of emergency declared in them, which was extended until the end of this month on November 29, the government announced on Sunday. of Latin America.
“The armed forces will continue to guarantee security on the outer perimeter of the (penitentiary) centers,” he explained in a press release issued by the interior ministry.
The decision was taken by a security team headed by Interior Minister Alejandra Vela. The step is studying the situation and the measures that should be taken after the expiration of the exemption status, which was extended last month until tomorrow, Tuesday 28 December.
The military, which the Constitution prohibits from intervening in prisons, “will participate in operations to control the entry and possession of weapons, ammunition and explosives, as required by law,” the statement said.
The government of Ecuador’s conservative president, Guillermo Lasso, maintains a state of emergency that provides for the mobilization of police and armed forces to “maintain order” in prisons, the text said.
Road patrols leading to the penitentiaries will be intensified, while inside they will remain “reaction forces” so that there will be “immediate intervention”, if required.
On November 29, President Lasso extended the state of prison exemption for a month. The presidential executive order provided for the “mobilization” of the police and the army to “strengthen and restore order and control” in all penitentiaries in the Andean state.
The head of state declared a state of emergency in the country’s 65 prisons on September 29, after the massacre in Guayaquil (southwest), where 119 prisoners were killed; it was the worst bloodshed in a penitentiary in the history of Latin America. Some of the victims were dismembered, beheaded, charred.
But on November 14, another 62 inmates were slaughtered in the same prison during new violent clashes between rival gangs, mainly involved in drug trafficking.
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