Overview

• SNAI confirmed the explosion at the main gate of Guayas 1/Penitenciaría del Litoral around 20:15 local time with no deaths, injuries or escapes.
• Surveillance video shows a vehicle arriving against traffic, the driver jumping out and fleeing, and a subsequent large detonation that destroyed the car.
• The blast came a day after an attempted assassination of the prison director, who was unharmed according to SNAI.
• The attack followed a week of deadly riots across prisons that left about 31 people dead, including one guard, in separate incidents.
• Police and military secured the perimeter and opened an investigation as Ecuador’s prisons remain under military control under President Daniel Noboa’s 2024 internal armed conflict declaration.