Inmates in Ecuador jail finally release 50 guards, 7 police officers held hostage

The inmates released the 50 guards and seven police officers in six Ecuadoran prisons on Friday (September 1) after taking them hostage in the latest incident of narcotics-related mayhem, saidthe state prison institute.

The prison guards and police "were freed and are undergoing medical evaluation to verify their health status," said the SNAI prison authority, further statingthat all of them were reported to be in good health.

Prisoners at a jail in the Ecuadorian city of Cuenca were holding the 50 guards and seven police officers hostage, Interior Minister Juan Zapata had confirmedon Thursday (August 31).

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"We are concerned about the safety of our officials," he said at a press conference in the capital Quito.

The mass hostage-taking happened a day after hundreds of soldiers and police officers and soldiers carried out an operation in search of weapons, ammunition and explosives. The jail is one of the country's main penitentiaries.

SNAI, the state office that is in charge of prisons, said that the hostage-taking was reprisal for the earlier operation. However, authorities later said that it happened as a protest at the transfer of inmates to other prisons.

There have been massacres in Ecuadorian jails by rival gangs who have links to Colombian and Mexican cartels. Since 2021, there have been more than 430 inmate deaths. The violence has often left a trail of burned and dismembered bodies.

The country, until a few years ago a peaceful South American haven nestled between the world's largest cocaine producers -- Colombia and Peru -- has recently descended into violence as it has itself become a hub for drug trafficking.

(With inputs from agencies)

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