The Government, on the other hand, concluded the intervention of the public forces in pavilions 8 and 9 of the Penitentiary, although this afternoon the General Secretariat of Communication of the Presidency announced that the work continues in other sectors of the facility.

In the operation, they found high caliber weapons, including two UZI automatic machine guns with feeders, nine rifles, a grenade launcher and a homemade bomb, seized about a thousand cartridges, cash, jewelry and drugs.

In the midst of Tuesday’s wave of violence, authorities indicated that 120 of the 137 agents held in prisons in the provinces of Napo, Cañar, Azuay, Loja, Cotopaxi and El Oro were released.

This morning, President Guillermo Lasso announced a state of emergency in all prisons in the national territory for 60 days to facilitate the intervention of police and military inside these prisons. Meanwhile, the province of Esmeraldas is in chaos, with at least five vehicles burned in different areas, threats of explosives in gas stations, as well as installations of the Public Prosecutor’s Office and the National Electricity Corporation attacked with Molotov cocktails.

The wave of violence in Ecuador has increased even more after the murder of the mayor of the city of Manta, Agustín Intriago, last Sunday, and the confrontations in different penitentiary centers during the weekend.

In total, almost 500 prisoners have been killed in prison riots during the mandate of President Lasso alone, who was at the head of a meeting of the Security Committee today.

The main measure resulting from this meeting was that mayors and prefects will be able to acquire armored vehicles with public resources, although local governments pointed out that there is a lack of resources to implement security actions.

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