Human Lives Human Rights: At least 15 prisoners died in the latest riots to strike Ecuador’s troubled prison system, on Monday.
As per an AFP report quoting officials from SNAI, the agency that manages Ecuador’s prisons, the riots left “15 people dead and 20 injured”.
The incident took place at Regional Sierra Centro Norte Cotopaxi prison in Latacunga in south Ecuador and as per a TRT World report, inmates armed with guns and knives clashed in the riot.
Officials have attributed the clash to national and international drug trafficking groups.
Videos of the incident are now going viral on social media.
The South American country’s prisons have over the years been the scene of repeated massacres as trafficking groups compete for power and drug distribution rights.
Since 2021, at least 400 inmates have lost their lives in drug trafficking-related eight massacres.
