Ecuador raises death toll from prison riots to 79, says situation controlled

Police and troops were stationed at detention centers in the cities of Guayaquil, Cuenca and Latacunga, where gangs on Tuesday fought one another with handmade weapons in what authorities said was a coordinated outbreak of violence. The gangs began a battle for leadership within the prison system in December when a leader of Los Choneros, considered the system's most powerful gang, was killed in a shopping center several months after being released.

Ecuador on Wednesday raised the death toll from riots in four jails to 79, and said authorities had regained control following one of the bloodiest outbreaks of prison violence in its history. Police and troops were stationed at detention centers in the cities of Guayaquil, Cuenca and Latacunga, where gangs on Tuesday fought one another with handmade weapons in what authorities said was a coordinated outbreak of violence.

The gangs began a battle for leadership within the prison system in December when a leader of Los Choneros, considered the system's most powerful gang, was killed in a shopping center several months after being released. Several of Tuesday's confrontations took place in maximum security areas of the Guayaquil and Cuenca prisons.

Prison authority SNAI said all those killed the rioting were prisoners. "Thanks to the actions carried out between this institution and the National Police, the situation ... is under control," it added in a statement.

It said it "continues to collect information on human losses and other aspects related to the clashes that have arisen." Inmates' relatives remained outside the prisons hoping for information about their loved ones.

President Lenin Moreno declared Ecuador's prison system in a state of emergency in 2019 after a wave of incidents that killed 24.