Battle among Ecuador prison gangs kills at least 68 inmates

By GONZALO SOLANO
Associated Press

QUITO, Ecuador (AP) — A prolonged gunbattle between rival gangs inside Ecuador’s largest prison has killed at least 68 inmates and wounded 25, and authorities say it took most of the day to regain control. Saturday’s bloody fighting is the latest violence to hit the Litoral Penitentiary, which was the scene of Ecuador’s worst prison bloodbath less than two months ago, with 119 dead. Officials attribute the clashes at the prison in the coastal city of Guayaquil to gangs linked to international drug cartels. Videos circulating on social media show bodies, some burned, lying on the ground inside the prison. The governor of Guayas province says that in the initial battle, inmates “tried to dynamite a wall to get into Pavilion 2 to carry out a massacre.”