(Portoviejo) Heads bowed, bare chests, hands on the back of the neck and tattoos in plain sight. Huddled together, inmates at a prison in western Ecuador, where violence is endemic, await the end of a new inspection by uniformed officers looking for weapons and narcotics.
” Who is responsible ? This is the last time I’m getting them out and I don’t want to do it the hard way,” threatens a hooded police officer while questioning the detainees during an operation involving some 700 police and military personnel to which the AFP was exceptionally able to attend Wednesday.
Prisoners dressed in orange uniforms run out of their cells and sit in the courtyard of El Rodeo prison, in the city of Portoviejo, capital of the western province of Manabi.
On their skin, tattoos such as “I am the devil” or “100% active Chonero”, a sign of their affiliation with one of the main criminal gangs in the country, Los Choneros.
Since Tuesday, police and armed forces have launched a massive operation across the province to show their determination to fight organized crime, whose attacks have intensified in towns like Manta, where gunmen opened fire on Sunday during a circus show, killing three people, including a parliamentarian and local influencer.
All this while the state of emergency declared earlier this year by President Daniel Noboa remains in force in seven of the country’s 24 provinces, including Manabi.
In January, the escape of “Fito,” the leader of the “Choneros,” from a high-security prison sparked violent uprisings by drug trafficking groups that led to prison riots, attacks on the press, car bomb explosions, the temporary hostage-taking of some 200 prison officers and police officers, as well as around twenty deaths.
Engaged in a fight against drug trafficking gangs, President Noboa then established a state of emergency and declared the country in “internal armed conflict”. The state of emergency has since been extended in areas where gangs have “sheltered and holed up” to escape the military offensive.
Since the country fell into the violence of drug trafficking, Ecuadorian prisons have been one of the epicenters of this violence, with recurring massacres between inmates who are members of rival gangs.
“We are sure that there are many weapons in this prison that we have not yet found, because they were hidden in underground spaces” or caches hidden under cement slabs, explained the Minister of Defense. Defense Gian Carlo Loffredo in an interview on a local radio.
In 12 of the country’s 36 prisons there is a permanent military presence, in addition to the prison administration guards (SNAI). In others, interventions and search operations by the army can last up to a week.
Inside the cells, below or behind the bunk beds, the soldiers bang the walls with tools and listen for any hollow sounds that might allow them to identify hiding places. From floor to ceiling, every gap is carefully examined.
At the slightest suspicion, they break down the wall with pickaxes. With his hand protected by a plastic glove, a soldier explores the hole just dug and takes out bags of drugs here, dangerous steel blades there, SIM cards and even mobile phones.
Nothing is left to chance. the soldiers also search and thoroughly examine the pipes and toilets.
Since 2021, at least 460 inmates have been killed in prison during bloody massacres and clashes between rival gangs. Violence is also in the streets. Ecuador closed 2023 with a record rate of 47 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants, up from six in 2018.
Drug seizures have also skyrocketed: 121 tons seized since January this year, compared to 219 for all of 2023. “We are facing a very dangerous enemy, very prepared, very equipped and with great economic power,” warned Minister Loffredo.
Earlier this week, tanks and soldiers armed with rifles patrolled the streets of Manta. “This is an enemy that hides in society,” the minister insisted.