Ecuador says 178 prison guards, staff members are held hostage by gangs

Gangsters hold 178 prison guards and staff hostage in Ecuador as armed forces battle organized crime.

Gangsters were holding 178 prison guards and staff hostage, officials in Ecuador said on Thursday, as a standoff between security forces and organised crime reached fever pitch.

The total was 39 more than the previous day, the SNAI prison authority said, as it reported riots in several penitentiaries with inmates shooting at members of the Ecuadoran armed forces.

The country’s armed forces are engaged in a brutal stand-off with organised crime, deploying more than 22,400 soldiers to put down a campaign of terror.

The small South American country has been plunged into crisis after years of growing control by transnational cartels that use its ports to ship cocaine to the United States and Europe.

The widespread outburst of gang violence this week was sparked by the discovery on Sunday that one of the country’s most powerful narco bosses, Jose Adolfo Macias, known by the alias “Fito,” had escaped from prison.

On Monday, President Daniel Noboa imposed a state of emergency and nighttime curfew, but the gangs hit back with a declaration of “war” — kidnapping police, setting off explosions, and threatening random executions.

At least 16 persons have been killed so far in the violence.