8 killed in Ecuador prison riots, authorities say

Eight inmates were killed on Thursday in two separate prison riots in Ecuador’s Andean provinces of Cotopaxi and Pichincha, according to a government authority responsible for prisons.

In a statement shared on US social media company X, the National Service for Comprehensive Care for Adults Deprived of Liberty and Adolescent Offenders (SNAI) said four inmates died at a prison in Latacunga, while four others were killed at the El Inca prison in Quito.

The authority said 10 others were injured in the incidents and are currently receiving medical treatment.

Authorities have identified those allegedly involved in the riots and plan to transfer them to El Encuentro, a maximum-security prison in the coastal province of Santa Elena, the agency added.

The prison authority also said law enforcers are carrying out operations at the affected facilities to restore order.

Prisons in Ecuador have become major flashpoints of violence, with deadly clashes between rival criminal gangs claiming dozens of lives in a series of massacres since 2021.