Orange-clad inmates line up with military precision to train or sweep the floors in an Ecuadorian prison where drug lords once enjoyed hot tubs and even a nightclub and hid drugs and weapons in the institution's walls.
The walls of Latacunga prison, south of the capital Quito, are still riddled with bullet holes from the not-so-distant era when the all-powerful gangs clashed there.
The prison, like others in the country, has long been an operations center for gangs linked to Mexican and Colombian drug cartels.
During a press visit, a military officer, who, like all those interviewed by AFP, wished to remain anonymous, assured that the prison was “now 100% controlled by the armed forces”.
However, three detainees escaped during the visit, the army said in a statement on Friday, saying the escape was discovered during a security check.
But the era of recurring clashes between rival gangs, which have caused more than 460 deaths among the country's prisoners since 2021, is over, according to the army. The uniformed prisoners are now subject to military discipline and follow the orders of around 1,500 soldiers.
But the facility, which holds about 4,300 inmates, still bears the scars of the past: bullet marks on the walls and cells that have been converted into comfortable rooms, one of which has a hot tub.
And in another area a nightclub. A sofa, a red shag carpet, and a mural of a half-naked woman decorated the room. Traces of an old tunnel under construction and weapons caches can still be seen. Drugs, weapons, ammunition and cell phones were also confiscated.
The most feared prisoners were moved to a high-security facility in Guayaquil, in the southwest of the country.
Until a few years ago, Ecuador was a peaceful country, but violence related to drug trafficking has led to a rise in homicides, from 6 per 100,000 residents in 2018 to a record 46 in 2023.
“We can’t even talk anymore.”
The prisons were militarized in January on the orders of President Daniel Noboa after criminal gangs killed around twenty people in the prisons and held hundreds of hostages in an attack, not to mention the burning of vehicles and attacks using explosives and against the press .
In the midst of the crisis, the young 36-year-old president declared a state of emergency and declared the country a “war” against the twenty criminal organizations operating in the country.
Heavily armed soldiers and police, supported by armored vehicles, entered the prisons to regain control.
Law enforcement pressure has spread throughout the prison system, which includes 36 prisons and 31,300 inmates, according to the latest 2022 census.
The large military operation in the country helped reduce the murder rate from 28 per day in the first week of January to 11 after two weeks, according to official figures.
However, human rights organizations question the militarization of prisons and denounce abuses, allegations refuted by the army.
“There has never been a violation of human rights,” a commander assured during the visit, emphasizing that prisoners used to have to pay gang leaders “in order to be able to sleep, wash or feed themselves.”
In the women's section, one of them screams from her cell: “We can't even talk anymore” and “We don't even have toilet paper.” In another area of the prison, an inmate is demanding more visits. “We want our loved ones.”
When asked how long the soldiers will remain in the country's prisons, an officer replies: “Until the homeland needs us.”