刑務官ら２００人以上解放、刑務所も奪還　治安悪化のエクアドル

【キト（エクアドル）ＡＦＰ＝時事】犯罪組織リーダーの脱獄を発端に治安が悪化しているエクアドルの当局は１４日、７州の刑務所で人質となっていた刑務官ら計２０１人が解放されたと発表した。南部コトパクシ州を残し、刑務所自体も奪還した。（写真は、軍と警察が奪還したエクアドル・クエンカの刑務所で、受刑者を見張る治安部隊。同国軍提供）
　エクアドルでは７日、同国最大の犯罪組織「ロス・チョネロス」のリーダー、ホセ・アドルフォ・マシアス容疑者が南西部グアヤキルの刑務所から脱獄。
　ダニエル・ノボア大統領は国内は「武力衝突」の状態にあるとし、犯罪組織の制圧を軍に命じた。
　刑務官ら職員の解放を受け、ノボア氏はＸ（旧ツイッター）に「軍、国家警察、矯正当局ＳＮＡＩの愛国的でプロフェッショナルな勇気ある行動に感謝したい」と投稿した。
　８日に非常事態宣言と夜間外出禁止令を発令したノボア氏は、２２のギャング組織に対して「戦争状態」を宣言。治安部隊２万２０００人以上を街頭に配備し、ギャングメンバーであることを示すタトゥーを確認するために若い男性の服を脱がせ、身体検査をした。
　当局はこの作戦で１３００人以上を拘束し、「テロリスト」８人が死亡、警官２人が殺害され、脱獄囚２７人を再拘束したと報告した。
　エクアドルではしばしばギャングが刑務所を事務所代わりとし、麻薬の密売犯罪収益の管理や暗殺の指令を刑務所から行っている。また刑務所内でライバル組織との抗争を繰り広げ、２０２１年２月以来、計４６０人以上が死亡している。
　ノボア氏は収容人数３０００人以上、最高警備レベルの刑務所２か所の建設計画を発表。また「刑務所船」を造る案も検討している。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2024/01/16-16:50）

Ecuador's security forces on Sunday took back control of several prisons that had fallen into the hands of gang members, after securing the release of more than 200 officials held hostage inside the jails.
The country's simmering security crisis erupted last week as the government and powerful narco gangs declared all-out war on each other, after the prison escape of a dangerous drug lord.
Inmates rioted in jails where gangs wield outsize control, taking prison guards and administrative workers hostage, while on the streets a wave of violence has left 19 people dead.
Unverified images on social media of looting, brutal murders and other attacks have struck terror into the population.
On Sunday the army shared videos of prison walls being blown up, and declared total control of a prison in the city of Cuenca where 61 employees had been held hostage, according to the mayor.
They also shared images of hundreds of cowed inmates, shirtless and barefoot, lying on the ground at several prisons.
We have resumed control of six centers and are busy taking control of a final prison in Cotopaxi, which has seen brutal massacres in recent years, General Pablo Velasco told Caracol TV.
Authorities announced the release of 201 prison guards and administrative officials, from prisons across seven provinces.
President Daniel Noboa celebrated the releases in a post on X, the former Twitter.
Congratulations to the patriotic, professional and courageous work of the armed forces, national police and the SNAI... for achieving the release of the prison guards and administrative staff held in the detention centers of Azuay, Canar, Esmeraldas, Cotopaxi, Tungurahua, El Oro and Loja, he wrote.
Images broadcast by the police showed the guards, many in tears, exhausted and supported by their colleagues shortly after their release.
We are free... Thank God we all got out safely, a prison employee said in a video posted on social media, waving the Ecuadoran flag and standing in front of one prison in southern Cotopaxi province.
- State of emergency -
Once a bastion of peace situated between major cocaine producers, Ecuador has been plunged into crisis after years of expansion by the transnational cartels that use its ports to ship the drug to the United States and Europe.
The latest crisis was triggered by the escape from Guayaquil prison of one of the country's most powerful narcotics gang bosses, Jose Adolfo Macias, known by the alias Fito, who headed the country's main gang Los Choneros.
The government declared a state of emergency and curfew, infuriating gangsters who declared war against civilians and security forces.
Noboa in turn said the country was in a state of war against 22 gangs.
He deployed to the streets over 22,000 security forces, who have frisked and stripped down young men in search of the tattoos identifying them as a member of one of the gangs.
Authorities have reported more than 1,300 arrests, eight terrorists killed and 27 escaped prisoners recaptured in the operation.
Two police officers have also been killed.
- 'We are going to win' -
Noboa has vowed not to bow before the violence, giving orders to neutralize the criminal groups responsible.
I believe we are going to win and I will not stop fighting until we do, he told the BBC on Friday.
Narco gangs often use prisons as criminal offices, from where they manage drug trafficking, order assassinations, administer the proceeds of crime and fight to the death with rivals for power.
It is in the prisons that much of the gang wars are fought, with brutal clashes between inmates leaving more than 460 dead, many beheaded or burned alive, since February 2021.
Ecuador's murder rate quadrupled between 2018 and 2022, as the criminal gangs found a foothold in the country.
Last year was the worst yet, with 7,800 murders and a record 220 tons of drugs seized.
Noboa has announced he plans to build two super maximum security prisons with a capacity for more than 3,000 people, with proposals for future prison ships also on the table.