Ecuador plans top security prisons for 12,000 inmates

ECUADOR will build two new maximum security prisons styled on a megajail capable of housing 12,000 inmates created by El Salvador’s leader.

The move comes as part of new President Daniel Noboa’s push to curtail a surge in drug trafficking and gang-related violence. He said yesterday that the new prisons would be exactly the same as a facility set up by his El Salvador counterpart Nayib Bukele, who has led a controversial crackdown on gangs in his Central American country.

“The prisons will allow for the division, proper isolation of people,” Mr Noboa said. “For all the Bukele lovers, it is an identical prison,” to those he has built, the 36-year-old added.

The two new jails will be built in the Amazon province of Pastaza, and in Santa Elena on the Pacific coast.

Mr Noboa, who took office in November, said the sites had been chosen as they were far away from the most violence-ridden parts of the country, such as the port city of Guayaquil, where drug-related gang violence has led to brutal prison massacres. The president has said his plan is to separate the most dangerous prisoners in a bid to stop the gang wars behind bars that have led to some 460 deaths since 2021.

Mr Noboa’s announcement came a day after he outlined a proposed referendum on tougher measures against organised crime.

Long a peaceful haven between top cocaine exporters Colombia and Peru, Ecuador has seen violence explode in recent years as enemy gangs with links to Mexican and Colombian cartels vie for control.

The murder rate quadrupled from 2018 to 2022, while last year became the most violent yet with 7,500 homicides in the country of about 18 million people.

Mr Bukele’s government frequently shares images of inmates packed into the jail, and has faced criticism from rights groups over its treatment of prisoners.

Critics of Mr Bukele, who is seeking re-election this year, argue his strongarm tactics are misguided and say El Salvador cannot arrest and jail its way out of its security problems.

Ecuador currently has some 30,000 inmates, according to a 2022 penitentiary census.