A deadly riot inside a prison in southwest Ecuador has left at least 31 inmates dead in one of the country’s worst outbreaks of violence this year. According to Ecuador’s national prisons agency (SNAI), most of the victims in the Machala facility died from asphyxiation or hanging, though the exact details remain under investigation. Forensic teams continue to examine the chaotic scene as authorities struggle to determine what triggered the bloodshed.

The violence erupted around 3 a.m., terrifying nearby residents who reported hearing gunfire, explosions, and cries for help. Tactical police units were deployed to regain control, but by the time order was restored, the toll had surged — 33 inmates and one police officer were also injured. Officials have not yet confirmed whether gang rivalries played a role, though the prison had recently undergone internal reorganizations — a change that has often sparked deadly turf clashes in Ecuador’s troubled penitentiary system.

Ecuador’s prisons have become strongholds for powerful drug gangs, serving as operational hubs for trafficking networks tied to cocaine routes running through the country’s ports. Since 2021, over 500 inmates have been killed in similar gang wars. The Machala prison itself has seen repeated massacres, including a September riot that left 14 dead, followed days later by 17 more fatalities in a separate facility. These incidents have become emblematic of Ecuador’s broader collapse into narco-violence.

Once one of South America’s safer nations, Ecuador is now engulfed in drug-related chaos, with bombings, assassinations, and prison massacres spreading fear nationwide. President Daniel Noboa’s administration has pledged a hardline response, blaming criminal cartels for the bloodshed. Yet, as Sunday’s massacre shows, Ecuador’s prisons remain battlegrounds — symbols of a system unable to contain the violent networks that now define it.