41 hostage prison workers freed in Ecuador, 136 still captive

As the nation struggles with a vicious campaign of gang terror, the Ecuadorian prisons authorities said on Saturday that more than 40 prison personnel who were held captive by convicts had been released.

The SNAI prisons agency announced that 24 guards and 17 administrative staff members had been “released,” but it did not provide any further information. Three staff members and 133 guards are still being held captive.

The workers were brought into custody following President Daniel Noboa’s military takedown of criminal organisations last week, which resulted in a violent conflict with narco gangs in the country of South America.

The crisis began when Jose Adolfo Macias, also known as “Fito,” one of the most potent drug lords in the nation, escaped from jail in Guayaquil.

His escape was followed by prison riots, hostage-taking and attacks on the police.

More than 22,000 troops have been deployed to carry out land, air and sea patrols. Authorities were raiding prisons, and a curfew was in place.

At least 19 people have died in the violence, SNAI said, including a guard killed Saturday in clashes with inmates in El Oro near the border with Peru.

There were “armed clashes” at the southwestern Machala prison, while army and police raided detention centers in six cities to “restore order and normality.”

Escape from Guayaquil

At least five inmates escaped Friday evening from the vast Guayaquil prison complex, with two of them caught shortly afterward during a search operation, police sources said.

Soon after their escape, two helicopters and drones were seen flying over the surroundings of the huge prison, on the northern outskirts of the city.

Dozens of police officers supported by soldiers patrolled around the prison, where Ecuador’s most dangerous criminals are held.

Once a bastion of peace situated between major cocaine producers, Ecuador has been plunged into crisis after years of growing control by transnational cartels that use its ports to ship the drug to the United States and Europe.

Criminal gangs in the country of about 17 million people are thought to have more than 20,000 members.

According to the latest official report, 859 suspects have been arrested, 25 escaped detainees have been recaptured, five “terrorists” shot dead and 57 kidnapped people have been released.

A chilling video filmed in Machala prison and confirmed by police shows the corpse of a prisoner wrapped in plastic thrown into the street from inside the jail, which is under the control of inmates.

Other images have emerged over the past days showing arrested suspected gang members being ridiculed, forced to sing, hitting each other or being mistreated by soldiers.