Relatives of prisoners in Ecuador condemn ill-treatment and food shortages (+photos)

Amid a sit-in today, Thursday, in front of the Northern Judicial Complex, a group of citizens submitted a request to hold a session to issue precautionary measures and stop the situation.

According to them, they have not been allowed to visit their loved ones for five months, and most importantly, they are worried about the lack of food and medicine.

Estefania Garzón, whose family member is in Cotopaxi prison, commented that they were recently able to bring in three food trucks, but they were not enough for all the inmates in that prison.

Meanwhile, government representatives this morning submitted a request to the State Prosecutor's Office to investigate the company responsible for providing food to prisons for alleged irregularities.

The alerts received have aroused great interest given the seriousness of the alleged crimes and the possible involvement of LaFattoria SA, the executive document states.

For weeks, there have been complaints about problems with prisoners' access to food, although the National Service for the Comprehensive Care of Persons Deprived of Liberty and Adolescent Offenders (SNAI) reported last Friday that “food is guaranteed.”

What exacerbates this problem is that the Committee of Relatives of Prisoners confirms the continuation of torture in prisons, and points to human rights violations by the armed forces, which have taken control of the main prisons since January.

The militarization of Ecuadorian prisons comes within the framework of the state of exception and internal armed conflict declared by Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa against organized crime amid escalating insecurity at the national level.

L/AFR