Latin America

The government, via its communications secretariat Segcom, said “total control” has now been regained at Guayas 1, which houses more than 5,600 inmates.

It said some 120 prison officers had also been freed after being held hostage in six jails around the country. There was no official information about hunger strikes allegedly taking place at some prisons.

Ecuador’s president, Guillermo Lasso, has declared a 60-day state of emergency throughout the country’s prisons and authorized the armed forces to retake control of jails, following violence in the country’s most notorious prison that left 18 dead and a string of protests in which inmates took nearly 100 guards hostage.

The measure – the second state of emergency that Lasso has ordered in less than 24 hours – will be in effect for 60 days and orders the immediate mobilization of the military and police in an effort to regain control of the prisons.