Armed military forces invaded a notorious Ecuadorian prison on Wednesday, rounding up dangerous gang members as they searched for weapons following a string of recent murders on the compound. This comes as the Ecuadorian government aims to crack down on prison gang violence, which has resulted in the deaths of hundreds of inmates since 2021. Police and armed forces installed permanent command centers in Manabi on Tuesday to tackle the crisis.

On June 5, armed forces stormed the Manabi N4 Detention Center, known as the El Rodeo Prison, in Portoviejo, Manabi, working their way through prison cells and searching for weapons. 79 inmates were recently massacred inside the prison and dozens of others sustained serious injuries, the Daily Mail reports. Photographs from the raid show inmates on their knees with their hands above their heads and grasping their necks as military men stand guard.

Defense Minister Gian Carlo Loffredo said Wednesday: "We are sure that there are many weapons that we have not yet found in the prisons because they are underground caches."

Loffredo said that the government has installed a permanent military presence in 12 of the country's 36 prisons. The prisons without permanent command centers will have a temporary military presence for interventions that will last around one week. Primicias reported that armed soldiers slammed tools against prison walls to try to detect any hollow sounds that might reveal where weapons are hidden.
 

Military commanders have begun taking on the fight against "narco-terrorist gangs," who are currently in a bloody war over drug trafficking. This includes the Los Choneros and Los Lobos gangs. The military's primary focus is taking action in Manabi, while reinforcing actions in Portoviejo, Guayaquil, and Los Rios.

Approximately 500 officers from the National Police's intelligence, investigative, and preventative divisions have been deployed to address the violence. Since 2021, the violent conflicts within Ecuadorian prisons have resulted in the deaths of hundreds of inmates, with their remains frequently discovered dismembered, mutilated, or incinerated.

Bloody massacres have claimed the lives of 460 inmates, typically as a consequence of conflicts between rival drug-related organizations with connections to the Mexican and Colombian cartels as they contend for authority. Ecuador's streets have also been affected by this violence, as the country reported 47 homicides per 100,000 residents last year, a significant increase from six in 100,000 in 2018, per the paper.

"We are facing a very dangerous enemy, very prepared, well equipped and with a lot of economic power," said Loffredo.