Ecuador: Drug lord known as “El Patron” killed in riots

Ecuadorean authorities on Tuesday confirmed the death in prison of drug lord Leandro Norrero, known as “El Patrón” and who evaded Peruvian justice by faking his death during the pandemic, while the death toll rose during a prison riot. Up to 16

Due to ethical and ethical issues, Noreiro, 35, said the details of the death must be provided directly to the family, according to the National Service for Attention to Persons Deprived of Liberty.

He indicated that the number of injured is now 43, two of them are in critical condition and are being treated at hospitals in Latakunga, 80 kilometers south of the capital, and at the headquarters of the prison on Monday afternoon and morning. A riot and violence erupted on Tuesday where the drug lord died.

On the outskirts of the prison, there were dozens of relatives of prisoners who, through shouts and tears, tried to communicate with relatives and sometimes managed to cross the police fences.

Norero was arrested at the end of May in a special urbanization in the city of Guayaquil, when 42 gold bars, weapons, jewelry and about seven million dollars in cash were seized from him.

Investigations also revealed that he owned at least seven companies and an equal amount of lavish real estate and other assets, which he was traced to after nearly a year of police pursuit.

Norero’s name went virtually unnoticed by authorities and security forces until early 2021, when Ecuadorian police began investigating him for links to and funding of violent gangs that control state prisons, international drug trafficking routes and drug-trafficking areas. As Tiguerones, Ñetas, Lagartos and Lobos.

He is linked to the Jalisco Nueva Generacion Mexican drug-trafficking organization, which police in the Andean country estimate supplies about 10 tons of cocaine each month.

Justice also maintained investigations into the sale of medical supplies to the state at premium prices by Norero companies during the pandemic, as well as civil works contracts with city municipalities, particularly in the country’s tropical regions, such as Manta. Others.

While awaiting trial for drug trafficking and money laundering in Ecuador, he was held in Latsunga State Prison, where he was murdered.

Norero was wanted by the Peruvian judiciary for drug trafficking, which he managed to avoid in mid-2020, during the most critical months of the coronavirus pandemic, when his lawyers submitted a false death certificate and photographs of his death. Escape to Ecuador.

Around noon, dozens of soldiers arrived at the prison to beef up security, while administrative staff were evacuated from inside the facility.

In the final hours, unidentifiable explosions of tear gas or gunfire were heard, while police teams stormed the medium-security pavilion, killing 15 people so far in attacks between rival gangs. , said the creature.

For two years, Ecuador’s state prisons have become the scene of bloody clashes between rival gangs of inmates over disputes over drug supply routes and territory, according to officials.

According to figures from the Service for the Attention of Persons Deprived of Liberty, 316 prisoners were killed by their colleagues last year and 106 so far this year.

The worst massacre occurred in September 2021 at the Littoral Penitentiary in Guayaquil City, where 125 inmates were killed. Two months later, a new massacre took place in the prison, in which 65 people died.

Ecuador’s prison system is designed to hold about 30,000 people, but as of last month there were about 35,000 inmates in the country’s 53 state prisons.

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