September 2021 Guayaquil prison riot

Guayaquil prison riot

Date	28 September 2021 (2021-09-28)
Venue	Penitenciaría del Litoral
Location	Guayaquil
Coordinates	02°03′09″S 79°56′42″W
Type	Riot
Cause	Gang rivalry
Motive	To gain criminal leadership
Participants	Prison inmates
Deaths	118 inmates

The 2021 Guayaquil prison riot occured at the Penitenciaría del Litoral in Guayaquil, Ecuador on 28 September 2021. At least 118 inmates were killed and several others were injured in the riot that took place in that prison. It was the deadliest prison fight in the country's history and one of the deadliest in Latin American history.

Background

The confrontations between the criminal gangs began after the death of Jorge Luis Zambrano, leader of the Los Choneros gang, one of the largest and oldest criminal organizations in the country. Zambrano was assassinated on 20 December 2020 and as a result of the incident, several groups that were previously part of Los Choneros separated from the structure and began to attack their former leaders. These groups became the bands of Los Chone Killers, Los Lobos, Los Pipos and Los Tiguerones.

According to the news portal Primicias, the confrontation that led to the massacre at the penitentiary would have occurred in response to the celebration of the birthday of one of the leaders of Los Choneros in one of the penitentiary's pavilions, on the night of 24 September. Members of Los Choneros allegedly stated during the celebration that they were the most powerful gang inside the prison, which would have angered members of the Los Lobos and Los Tiguerones gangs.

The massacre

The clashes between the gangs began around 9:30 in the morning of 28 September, when the first detonations of explosives were heard inside the jail and it was decided to evacuate the administrative personnel working there. Inmates from pavilions 8 and 9 entered pavilion 5 and attacked their rivals, resulting in around 35 deaths and 48 injuries. Members of the Los Tiguerones gang also attacked inmates in pavilions 1 and 3 and beheaded five of them.

As a consequence of the first confrontation that occurred in the morning, another retaliatory attack took place.

Response

On September 30, around 900 police and military personnel entered the Penitenciaría del Litoral to pacify the prison, in response to President Guillermo Lasso's announcement the day before that some pavilions still did not have a police presence. During the entry, the security forces found improvised checkpoints built by the inmates and holes in several walls used by the attackers to enter other pavilions in search of victims.