Inside Ecuador prison with swimming pool, disco, designer gear and weapons

29 January 2024 , 15:41

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Inside Ecuador prison with swimming pool, disco, designer gear and weapons

A prison holding members of brutal drug gangs in Ecuador has been found full of luxuries - including a disco and even a swimming pool.

Ecuador is in a state of crisis following the escape of drug boss Jose Adolfo Macias Villamar, alias Fito, from a notorious jail in Guayaquil which has led to a fresh wave of violence.

There has been rioting in a series of prisons, disorder on the streets with looting, and masked men entered the set of the TC Television network in Guayaquil before making threats against the Ecuador President Daniel Noboa.

A state of emergency was called for 60 days, which suspends citizen’s rights and allows the military to enter prisons. And jail searches have led the army to find all kinds of luxuries as well as drugs and weapons inside. In a video shared by the Ecuador army, it shows a jail in Cotopaxi that is elegantly decorated while including a swimming pool and a disco.

"You will be surprised what we have found. We have found privileges, VIP cells, double beds, fitted lights, designer clothes, a swimming pool, a disco with LED lights and expensive alcoholic drinks and drugs," said an army spokeswoman.

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The swimming pool in the jail

The army said it brought an end the privileges that the prisoners were enjoying. In the Litoral jail in Guayaquil raids, guns, grenades and explosives have also been found during two and half weeks of prison searches as the authorities attempt to recapture control.

President Noboa said: “It has ended the time where those imprisoned for drugs, assasinations and organised crime can dictate to the government.” He continued: “What we are seeing in the prisons is the result of the decision to face up to them. For that reason, we have taken measures that allow us to take back control of prisons which we have lost in recent years and for that reason they are trying to scare us and think we will give way to their demands.”

Police have found plenty of banned items in the jails

Alcoholic drinks were among the items seized

But terror still reigns on the streets with explosions, shootings, and vehicles blown up. So far Guayaquil Mayor Aquiles Alvarez has said that there are at least eight dead from the violence in the city. President Noboa added that there was “a terrorist threat against the pillars of the sovereign state”.

The authorities show no signs of capturing Fito along with another rival gang boss, Fabricio Colon Pico, alias The Savage, also escaped along with 38 other prisoners from a jail in Riobamba, south of the capital Quito. He is a leader of the Lobos cartel which is seen as the most violent in the country. He was detained on January 5 of this year having been accused of kidnap and also planning to kill state prosecutor Diana Salazar.

Tim Hanlon