蜜芽传媒

In the worst prison violence in the country's history, more than 100 inmates have been killed during a violent battle between rival gangs in a jail in the port city of Guayaquil in Ecuador. At least five inmates were decapitated, while others were shot dead or killed with grenades. Questions are being asked about how such weaponry was smuggled into the hands of prisoners.

President Guillermo Lasso has declared a state of emergency in the country's prison system.

蜜芽传媒 Mundo's Mathias Zibel told us this was the third such incident of mass violence in a prison this year.

"Ecuadorian analysts have described the prison system as corrupt and overpopulated: corrupt because of this dodgy relationship between officers and prisoners, and overpopulated because we have a lot of people in prison because of drugs and trafficking."

(Photo: A relative waits for news outside the prison. Credit: Reuters)