International

Relatives of Ecuador inmates clamor for news after bloody riot

AFP

Relatives gathered Friday at a morgue in Ecuador, clamoring for news about loved ones locked up at a prison where 118 convicts were killed in a flare-up of gang violence, some beheaded.

They shared their worry in frantic tones as they circulated rumors that some of the bodies had been dismembered or burnt beyond recognition, and that police have yet to remove all the corpses from the scene of one of the bloodiest prison riots in South American history.

“I came because I saw a video, sent to me by cell phone, where I recognized his head,” said Ermes Duarte, desperate for word on his son who he said had just 15 days left to serve at Guayaquil prison in the port city of the same name.

“I haven’t spoken to my son since Monday,” the 71-year-old told AFP.

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The riot broke out Tuesday as prisoners believed to have links to rival Mexican drug gangs went to war armed with guns and grenades.

Police had retaken control by Thursday evening after a massive security operation involving some 900 officers and members of tactical units while soldiers and tanks were stationed outside the jail.

Six inmates were beheaded in the massacre that left 86 wounded, six critically, according to Ecuador’s prisons authority.

So far, 41 of the bodies have been identified, officials said, and 22 turned over to their families.

– Three sons dead –

A woman at the morgue, in search of her brother, told AFP she had seen an image of a severed head “which looked like his”.

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Ecuador’s prisons are the scene of frequent clashes between thousands of inmates with ties to drug gangs — mainly the Sinaloa and Jalisco New Generation cartels.

The prison system has 65 facilities designed for about 30,000 inmates but houses 39,000 — 8,500 of them in Guayaquil.

The country has about 1,500 guards — a shortfall of about 3,000, according to experts.

Corruption is rife, enabling prisoners to acquire all sorts of contraband, including arms and ammunition.

So far this year, riots have claimed 237 inmates’ lives — up from 103 in 2020 — and left 166 injured.

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At the morgue, Daniel Villacis, 57, said he lost three sons in the latest prison clash.

Clutching a banner that read “You left without saying goodbye…” and a picture of one of his children, Villacis told AFP two of his sons’ bodies were already at home, and he was waiting for the third.

Police continued searches of the prison Friday for arms and ammunition. On Thursday, they had seized three pistols, several rounds of ammunition, 25 knives and three explosive devices.

The government decreed a state of emergency after Tuesday’s riot, suspending the civil rights of prisoners and allowing it to deploy the armed forces to restore and maintain order.

– ‘A war’ –

On February 23, simultaneous riots at four jails including Guayaquil left 79 inmates dead, several of them also beheaded.

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Two weeks ago, Guayaquil’s Prison Number 4 was attacked by drones, part of “a war between international cartels,” prison authorities said. There were no casualties in that attack.

Jaqueline Cox, 52, said she identified the body of her son Jorge Mojarras, 28, from a tattoo on his back in a picture shown to her by forensics experts at Guayaquil morgue.

He was in jail for stealing a mobile phone, she said.

Located between Colombia and Peru, the world’s leading cocaine producers, Ecuador is a key transit for drug shipments to the United States and Europe.

Guayaquil is Ecuador’s most populous city and its main port.

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International

Trump urges Putin to reach peace deal

On Monday, U.S. President Donald Trump reiterated his desire for Russian President Vladimir Putin to “reach a deal” to end the war in Ukraine, while also reaffirming his willingness to impose sanctions on Russia.

“I want to see him reach an agreement to prevent Russian, Ukrainian, and other people from dying,” Trump stated during a press conference in the Oval Office at the White House.

“I think he will. I don’t want to have to impose secondary tariffs on Russian oil,” the Republican leader added, recalling that he had already taken similar measures against Venezuela by sanctioning buyers of the South American country’s crude oil.

Trump also reiterated his frustration over Ukraine’s resistance to an agreement that would allow the United States to exploit natural resources in the country—a condition he set in negotiations to end the war.

International

Deportation flight lands in Venezuela; government denies criminal gang links

A flight carrying 175 Venezuelan migrants deported from the United States arrived in Caracas on Sunday. This marks the third group to return since repatriation flights resumed a week ago, and among them is an alleged member of a criminal organization, according to Venezuelan authorities.

Unlike previous flights operated by the Venezuelan state airline Conviasa, this time, an aircraft from the U.S. airline Eastern landed at Maiquetía Airport, on the outskirts of Caracas, shortly after 2:00 p.m. with the deportees.

Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello, who welcomed the returnees at the airport, stated that the 175 repatriated individuals were coming back “after being subjected, like all Venezuelans, to persecution” and dismissed claims that they belonged to the criminal organization El Tren de Aragua.

However, Cabello confirmed that “for the first time in these flights we have been carrying out, someone of significance wanted by Venezuelan justice has arrived, and he is not from El Tren de Aragua.” Instead, he belongs to a gang operating in the state of Trujillo. The minister did not disclose the individual’s identity or provide details on where he would be taken.

International

Son of journalist José Rubén Zamora condemns father’s return to prison as “illegal”

Guatemalan court decides Wednesday whether to convict journalist José Rubén Zamora

The son of renowned journalist José Rubén Zamora Marroquín, José Carlos Zamora, has denounced as “illegal” the court order that sent his father back to a Guatemalan prison on March 3, after already spending 819 days behind barsover a highly irregular money laundering case.

“My father’s return to prison was based on an arbitrary and illegal ruling. It is also alarming that the judge who had granted him house arrest received threats,” José Carlos Zamora told EFE in an interview on Saturday.

The 67-year-old journalist was sent back to prison inside the Mariscal Zavala military barracks on March 3, when Judge Erick García upheld a Court of Appeals ruling that overturned the house arrest granted to him in October. Zamora had already spent 819 days in prison over an alleged money laundering case.

His son condemned the situation as “unacceptable”, stating that the judge handling the case “cannot do his job in accordance with the law due to threats against his life.”