Ecuador identifies 41 of the dead inmates in Guayaquil and expedites pardons

The Ecuadorian authorities have identified as of this Friday a third of the 118 inmates killed in the massacre on Tuesday in a prison in Guayaquil, and announced that they will accelerate pardons and repatriate foreigners to reduce prison overcrowding.

According to the Minister of Government, Alexandra Vela, there are 41 bodies identified and 21 that have been delivered to their families, although this Friday the restitution of another twenty is expected.

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The identification process is hampered by the lack of information on the prisoners who were in pavilion number 5 of the Litoral prison, where more bodies were found.

At a press conference in Quito, Vela said that the decision has been made to publicize the list of the deceased as soon as possible and that it “will be delivered to the media” for dissemination.

Also that, “with the support of the Guayaquil municipality, niches will be delivered to bury” the deceased and that the Ministries of Health and Educational Inclusion will provide support to families.

LONG WAIT

Dozens of these families continued today waiting for information about their loved ones or to be able to identify their deceased in the municipal morgue of Guayaquil.

“They don’t give us reason, they don’t give us information, they don’t let us pass, there are no lists or anything. Since Tuesday coming and going. They sent us there to that Coliseo de Samanes to ask us for information, data and data, for shit that is not worth it. That we are going to call them (they told us) and they never called or anything, “Katty Banchón complained to Efe this Friday at the doors of the morgue.

The night of the event his nephew was in pavilion 5 of the penitentiary and since then they have not had communication with him, so they expect the worst.

At the morgue, some 300 Ecuadorians who were waiting for news entered in groups of twenty, some to provide information with which to identify their loved ones, others to collect the body.

But the slow process outrages families.

“That they help us with a list of the living, that they do not have us as well as they have us all with this uncertainty, that we do not even know what to do. We do not know what happens to them, if they are alive or dead. We don’t know anything! ”Banchón insisted.

Billy Navarrete, from the Guayas Human Rights Committee, warns that the lack of control is absolute.

“We came from the penitentiary in the morning and the official version of the penitentiary indicates that they do not control the number or identity of who inhabited the pavilions. That is very serious because how is a rehabilitation process guaranteed if you do not know the people who inhabit the pavilions, “he denounced Efe.

NEW MEASURES

The reconversion of the penitentiary system is one of the pending subjects of the previous Government of Lenín Moreno (2017-2021) that the current president, Guillermo Lasso, has inherited.

At the press conference, Vela and the new director of the National Service for Comprehensive Attention to Persons Deprived of Liberty and Adolescent Offenders (SNAI), Bolívar Garzón, announced forceful measures to try to repair the situation, especially to reduce overcrowding, which in the Litoral prison reaches 62%.

Among the measures announced is the intention to grant some 2,000 pardons “immediately to the elderly, women, people with disabilities and the terminally ill,” and to begin the repatriation of foreign prisoners. The return of 82 is already in process.

The Government also plans to rehabilitate the Guayaquil complex and distribute the prisoners in different pavilions to avoid violent events, in addition to promoting the construction of additional centers.

It will also install “a cargo scanner to prevent arms smuggling.”

TENSA CALM IN PRISON

Three days after the events, the Litoral prison has been combed again by the security forces who, with the tactical support of the Armed Forces, carry out intermittent searches.

On this occasion, knives, 9-millimeter ammunition and artisan refrigerators have been seized. Little for what, later, emerges in the brawls.

The vigilance in the place is maximum by the Police and the Armed Forces, whose contingents are prepared to intervene in the case of any new eventuality.

Within the state of exception decreed on Wednesday by President Lasso, 3,600 Police officers and Army soldiers are deployed in prisons across the country.

Meanwhile, Ecuador does not rule out requesting international assistance to address the crisis, Foreign Minister Mauricio Montalvo revealed this Friday.

“There have been very painful scenes. Immediately we and other competent national bodies in the matter have acted as facilitators to achieve international cooperation, “he commented in a discussion at the headquarters of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

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Deshawn