Inside Machala\u2019s prison, the bloodshed was not an anomaly but the latest chapter in a grim pattern. Authorities say 27 inmates died by asphyxiation and \u201cimmediate death by hanging,\u201d as investigators sifted through cellblocks scarred by gunfire, explosions, and chaos. In total, 33 prisoners and one police officer were injured, while families stood outside the walls, begging for names, clinging to rumors, and fearing the morgue was their only source of truth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This riot unfolded in a penitentiary network long described as the \u201cepicenter of organized crime,\u201d where gangs use overcrowded, underfunded prisons as command centers for drug trafficking and territorial wars. More than 500 inmates have been killed since 2021, often in scenes of extreme brutality. Once a relatively calm nation between Peru and Colombia, Ecuador is now a major cocaine corridor \u2014 and its prisons have become the most visible front line of a narco-war the state is still struggling to control.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Inside Machala\u2019s prison, the bloodshed was not an anomaly but the latest chapter in a grim pattern. Authorities say 27 inmates died by asphyxiation and \u201cimmediate death by hanging,\u201d as … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22494,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22493","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n