Thirty-one people died on Sunday in a day of violence at a prison in Machala, in southwest Ecuador, prison authorities announced. After clashes with firearms and explosives left four people dead overnight from Saturday to Sunday, authorities indicated in the evening that 27 other deaths, many of them “asphyxia”, had also been discovered.
Death after their death. Infrentamiento between presos dejó four muertos et 43 heridos, ini madrugada en la carcel de Machala. El @SNAI_Ec publicó that the reason for the violence was the reorganization of souls into new maximum security prisons. #ElOro pic.twitter.com/cqeQfIpmgN
— LaHistoria (@lahistoriaec) November 9, 2025
The prison in Ecuador has become the center of operations for rival drug trafficking gangs involved in clashes that have killed nearly 500 people since 2021. Residents in the neighborhood where the prison is located in Machala recorded the sounds of gunfire, explosions and cries for help coming from the detention center at around 3 a.m. on Sunday.
The prison authority (SNAI) later said four people were killed and 33 inmates and a police officer were injured. Seven people were arrested. According to SNAI, these clashes were caused by the future “relocation” of certain prisoners “in a new high-security prison” built by President Daniel Noboa’s government in the coastal province of Santa Elena (southwest), the inauguration of which is scheduled for this month.
Hours later, authorities announced the discovery of 27 more bodies, during violence “separate” from the morning’s events. These deaths were mostly due to asphyxiation caused by another person, indicating hanging or strangulation. In late September, armed clashes at the same prison left 14 people dead, including a guard.
#MACHALA | 31 DEATHS IN ONE DÍA
Following the crime disorder that left 4 people dead and 34 dead, then we saw 27 people deprived of their liberty without living in Machala prison. There @FiscaliaEcuador y Police investigate possible asphyxia or poisoning. pic.twitter.com/VZL9OnvpzS
— Kontraluz | Politics, Economics and more (@contraluzec) November 10, 2025
Ecuador’s prisons came under military control in 2024, when President Noboa declared his country in armed conflict against some 20 criminal organizations linked to international cartels. However, last August, eight of them, including Machala, were handed over to the police. The highest number of victims of prison violence was recorded in 2021, with the deaths of more than 100 inmates at the penitentiary center in Guayaquil (southwest).
