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Mournful news emerged from the Ecuadoran Amazon on Tuesday, as the director of a prison facility fell victim to a fatal armed assault. The attack also left two officers injured, according to a statement released by the country’s prison management service.
The SNAI prisons agency disclosed on WhatsApp that an armed attack occurred on the road to Coca City, resulting in three administrative officials from the Center for Deprivation of Liberty being victimized.
The agency regretfully announced that Alex Guevara, the director of the prison facility in Sucumbios province, succumbed to his injuries and lost his life as a result of the armed attack.
In addition to the director’s tragic death, two other employees who were accompanying him during the attack suffered injuries and were wounded.
Photographic evidence of the attack’s intensity was revealed by local media, which published an image of the vehicle carrying the officials, its windshield riddled with multiple bullet holes.
The police have opened an investigation into the incident, SNAI confirmed, and are currently working to piece together the events surrounding the crime.
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Last week two prison officers were killed on their way to work in a jail in southwestern Guayaquil, one of Ecuador’s most violent cities where criminal gangs are fighting over drug trafficking routes.
The number of homicides in Ecuador has risen sharply, with a record 47 cases per 100,000 inhabitants in 2023. This represents a substantial increase from the six per 100,000 seen just five years ago, prompting a closer look at the situation.
The government of President Daniel Noboa is pointing to a decline in homicides as proof that its aggressive campaign against organized crime is paying off, even as the country grapples with a stubbornly high murder rate.
The interior ministry reports a welcome drop in homicides, with a total of 4,236 murders recorded from January to September, a decrease from the 5,112 reported during the same timeframe last year.
