GUAYAQUIL, Ecuador, Sept 30 (Reuters) - Ecuador on Thursday sought to restore order at one of its largest prisons after a riot this week killed at least 116 inmates in the latest bout of violence authorities have linked to gangs vying for control of drug trafficking routes.
The national police said it sent 400 officers to the Penitenciaria del Litoral in Guayas province to regain control after the deadliest outbreak of prison violence in the South American country's history, in which 80 inmates were also injured. Officers seized three explosive devices found in the detention center.
"We will continue to intervene at the penitentiary in the coming days," police Commander Tannya Varela told reporters on Thursday. "The police will continue to act to regain control."
The violence on Tuesday at the prison on the outskirts of Guayaquil, Ecuador's largest city, came after 79 and 22 people died in prison riots in February and July.
Authorities linked the earlier clashes to rival local gangs with ties to transnational criminal groups battling for control over Ecuador's drug trade.
Prison overcrowding and underfunding is also a major problem across South America and has contributed to riots in recent years in Argentina, Brazil and Venezuela, as well as Ecuador.
Asked on Wednesday night whether this week's clash was linked to drug trafficking, Fausto Cobo, director of Ecuador's Center for Strategic Intelligence, said the violence was "connected with other serious problems."
"This is a problem that goes beyond an issue with the penal system," Cobo told reporters. "It is a threat against the Ecuadorian state."
While not a large drug producer, Ecuador is a major transit hub for cocaine from neighboring Colombian and Peru bound for the United States and Europe, much of it concealed in legitimate container cargo departing from Guayaquil's port, according to a U.S. State Department report from March 2021.
Ecuador's prosecutor's office said late on Wednesday that it was still collecting information from within the detention center. President Guillermo Lasso said on Wednesday he would free up funds and send additional security forces into the country's prison system to avoid a repeat of the riots.
On Thursday morning, family members of inmates at the Penitenciaria del Litoral gathered outside a police morgue in Guayaquil awaiting information on the dead, a Reuters witness said. Soldiers stood guard around the prison's perimeter.
The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) on Wednesday condemned the acts of violence and called on Ecuador to prevent criminal groups from operating from within its penitentiaries.
"IACHR again urges the state of Ecuador to investigate the facts with due diligence and implement actions to avoid a repeat, such as increasing security and surveillance in prisons," the Washington, D.C.-based human rights wing of the Organization of American States wrote on Twitter.
