QUITO, Ecuador: A battle between gangs in a prison killed at least 116 people and injured 80 in what authorities are calling the worst penitentiary massacre in Ecuador’s history. At least five dead were reported beheaded, officials said Wednesday.
President Guillermo Lasso decreed a state of emergency in Ecuador’s prison system, allowing the government to deploy the police and soldiers to penitentiaries among other powers. Authorities attributed Tuesday’s bloodshed at the Litoral penitentiary in the coastal city of Guayaquil to gangs linked to international drug cartels fighting for control of the lockup.
Lasso, visibly affected, said at a news conference that what was happening in the Guayaquil prison was “bad and sad” and he could not for the moment guarantee that authorities had regained control of the lockup.
“It is regrettable that the prisons are being turned into territories for power disputes by criminal gangs,” he said, adding that he would act with “absolute firmness” to regain control of the Litoral prison and prevent the violence from spreading to other penitentiaries.
Images circulating on social media showed dozens of bodies in the prison’s Pavilions 9 and 10 and scenes that looked like battlefields. The fighting was with firearms, knives and bombs, officials said. Earlier, regional police commander Fausto Buenaño had said that bodies were being found in the prison’s pipelines.
Outside the prison morgue, the relatives of inmates wept, with some describing to reporters the cruelty with which their loved ones were killed, decapitated and dismembered.
“In the history of the country, there has not been an incident similar or close to this one,” said Ledy Zúñiga, the former president of Ecuador’s National Rehabilitation Council.
Zúñiga, who was also the country’s minister of justice in 2016, said she regretted that steps had not been taken to prevent another massacre following deadly prison riots last February.
Earlier, officials said the violence erupted from a dispute between the “Los Lobos” and “Los Choneros” prison gangs.
Col. Mario Pazmiño, the former director of Ecuador’s military intelligence, said the bloody fighting shows that “transnational organized crime has permeated the structure” of Ecuador’s prisons, adding that Mexico’s Sinaloa and Jalisco New Generation cartels operate through local gangs.
“They want to sow fear,” he told The Associated Press on Wednesday, urging the government to temporarily cede control of the prisons to the National Police. “The more radical and violent the way they murder,” the more they achieve their goal of control, he added.
Ecuador’s president said that care points had been set up for relatives of the inmates with food and psychological support. He added that a $24 million program to address the country’s prisons will be accelerated, starting with investments in infrastructure and technology in the Litoral prison.
The former director of Ecuador’s prison bureau, Fausto Cobo, said that inside penitentiaries authorities face a “threat with power equal to or greater than the state itself.” He said that while security forces must enter prisons with shields and unarmed, they are met by inmates with high-caliber weapons.
In July, the president decreed another state of emergency in Ecuador’s prison system following several violent episodes that resulted in more than 100 inmates being killed. Those deaths occurred in various prisons and not in a single facility like Tuesday’s massacre.
Previously, the bloodiest day occurred in February, when 79 prisoners died in simultaneous riots in three prisons in the country. In July, 22 more prisoners lost their lives in the Litoral penitentiary, while in September a penitentiary center was attacked by drones leaving no fatalities.
At least 116 dead in gang battle at Ecuador jail; 5 beheaded
https://arab.news/24mtu
At least 116 dead in gang battle at Ecuador jail; 5 beheaded
- President Lasso decreed a state of emergency in Ecuador’s prison system to take control
- Bloodshed blamed on gangs linked to international drug cartels fighting for control of the lockup
Suspected outbreak of Marburg virus kills eight in Tanzania, WHO says
- The viral hemorrhagic fever has a fatality rate as high as 88 percent, and is from the same virus family as the one responsible for Ebola
The viral hemorrhagic fever has a fatality rate as high as 88 percent, and is from the same virus family as the one responsible for Ebola, which is transmitted to people from fruit bats which are endemic to that part of East Africa.
The WHO said it received reliable reports of suspected cases in the Kagera region of Tanzania on Jan. 10, with symptoms of headache, high fever, back pain, diarrhea, vomiting blood, muscle weakness and finally external bleeding.
Samples from two patients were awaiting testing at Tanzania’s national laboratory for confirmation of the outbreak, WHO said in a statement on Tuesday.
The patients’ contacts, including health care workers, have been identified and were being followed up, WHO reported.
The outbreak in Rwanda, which shares a border with Tanzania’s Kagera region, infected 66 people and killed 15 before it was declared over on December 20.
Marburg virus can spread between people through direct contact or via blood and other bodily fluids of infected people, including contaminated bedding or clothing.
An outbreak in the Kagera region in March 2023 killed six people and lasted for nearly two months.
‘Not for the poor’: Indonesians in capital face housing, commute woes
JAKARTA: Scrolling on social media, Indonesian moviegoer Jessica Sihotang stumbled across a film depicting a fellow woman in her 30s struggling to make the dream of buying a Jakarta home a reality.
Nearly two million like-minded Indonesians tuned in to watch the protagonist’s house-hunting journey when “Home Sweet Loan” was released last year, the movie’s producer said.
Residents of the megalopolis of 11 million are finding it impossible to climb the property ladder, as space shrinks and prices rise, forcing them to seek faraway homes that come with arduous commutes.
The movie sparked widespread chatter among Jakartans, as its main character’s grievances resonated with their own long-held housing woes.
“I can relate so much. I’ve been thinking about it for the past 10 years,” said Sihotang.
“I want to have my own house, but my savings have never been enough even just for the down payment,” added the 35-year-old university admissions worker.
Jakarta is where Indonesia’s growing wealth gap is most evident — with unofficial slum housing sitting below shiny new apartment complexes and skyscrapers.
Less than two-thirds of Jakartans own a home, according to Indonesia’s Central Statistics Bureau, the lowest figure compared to other provinces.
Sihotang said she cannot afford a home within 60 kilometers (37 miles) of her job.
“I have to find side hustles for additional income, or maybe try my luck for a few years abroad” before buying a property, she said.
The price of a Jakarta house is on average 20 times higher than an employee’s annual salary, a University of Indonesia survey in June found.
DAILY COMMUTE
Jakartans like Rizqi Arifuddin have resorted to buying a house in neighboring provinces.
The office worker in one of Jakarta’s main business districts commutes by train for an hour from his home in West Java province.
He then jumps on a motorcycle taxi for another half an hour to reach the office.
“I can never afford a house in the city. Even researching the prices makes me upset,” he said.
With limited space available in the cramped capital known for its brutal traffic jams, prices have skyrocketed.
Housing complexes are now being built further from the city to meet demand.
“This is the reality, people are now competing for places which at least have access to mass transportation,” said Yayat Supriyatna, an urban planner from Trisakti University in Jakarta.
“Jakarta is not a place for the poor,” he told AFP.
HOUSING CRISIS
Some Indonesians like Muhammad Faris Dzaki Rahadian and his wife have chosen to rent, rather than buy, a property close to work.
“Even with our joint income, it is still not affordable,” said journalist Rahadian, 27.
“I don’t think buying is a rational option.”
To address the housing crisis, the government will require employees from 2027 to contribute three percent of their salaries to a savings fund which they can use for housing.
But it has angered Indonesians who think it won’t be enough — or that it could be taken from them by a government many distrust.
“Who’s going to benefit? It seems to me that people are getting constantly pressured,” Supriyatna said.
Despite the grim housing market, some are still holding on to their dreams.
“Having a house, no matter how small is a symbol of peace of mind for me,” Sihotang said.
“It will give me peace when I’m old.”
Dense fog over Indian capital delays flights, trains
- Delhi was ranked as the world’s most polluted city in live rankings by Swiss group IQAir
Dense fog and cold weather delayed train and flight departures in several parts of northern India, including its capital New Delhi, on Wednesday.
India’s weather office issued an orange alert for Delhi, the second highest warning level, forecasting dense to very dense fog in many areas.
Visibility at Delhi’s main airport was between zero to 100 meters (328.08 ft), the weather office said, and more than 40 trains across northern India were delayed because of fog, local media reported.
Some aircraft departures from Delhi were delayed, airport authorities said on social media platform X, warning that flights lacking the CAT III navigation system that enables landing despite low visibility would face difficulties. Delhi’s main airport handles about 1,400 flights every day.
“Low visibility and fog over Delhi may lead to some delays,” the country’s largest airline IndiGo said in a social media post.
Local media showed images of vehicles crawling along highways through the fog, and people huddled indoors as the temperature dipped to 7 degrees Celsius (44.6 degrees Fahrenheit).
Delhi was ranked as the world’s most polluted city in live rankings by Swiss group IQAir on Wednesday, with a reading of 254, ranked as “very unhealthy.”
The Indian capital has been battling poor air quality and smog since the beginning of winter.
South Korean President Yoon arrested over failed martial law bid
- Earlier more than 3,000 police officers and anti-corruption investigators had gathered there before dawn, pushing through throngs of Yoon supporters and members of his ruling People Power Party protesting attempts to detain him
SEOUL: South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol was arrested on Wednesday over his failed martial law bid, after hundreds of anti-graft investigators and police raided his residence to end a weeks-long standoff.
Yoon, who was impeached and charged with insurrection over his short-lived effort to impose martial law last month, is the first sitting president in the nation’s history to be arrested.
Hundreds of police officers and investigators from the Corruption Investigation Office had streamed up the driveway to the presidential residence before dawn on Wednesday, some scaling perimeter walls and hiking up back trails to reach the main building.
It was their second effort to arrest Yoon.
A first attempt on January 3 failed after a tense hours-long standoff with members of Yoon’s official Presidential Security Service (PSS), who refused to budge when investigators tried to execute their warrant.
Yoon’s lawyer announced on Wednesday morning the president had agreed to speak to investigators and that he had decided to leave the residence to prevent a “serious incident.”
“President Yoon has decided to personally appear at the Corruption Investigation Office today,” Seok Dong-hyeon said on Facebook, adding that Yoon would also deliver a speech.
But investigators announced shortly after that Yoon had been arrested.
“The Joint Investigation Headquarters executed an arrest warrant for President Yoon Suk Yeol today (January 15) at 10:33 am (0130 GMT),” they said in a statement.
AFP reporters earlier witnessed brief scuffles at the gate, where Yoon’s die-hard supporters had been camped out to protect him, as authorities first moved on the compound.
Lawmakers from Yoon’s ruling People Power Party also rushed to the area in an apparent bid to defend him, AFP reporters saw.
His supporters were heard chanting “illegal warrant!” while waving glow sticks and South Korean and American flags. Some laid on the ground outside the residential compound’s main gate.
Police and CIO officers began forcibly removing them from the entrance to the residence while around 30 lawmakers from Yoon’s ruling People Power Party also blocked investigators, Yonhap News TV reported.
Yoon’s guards had installed barbed wire and barricades at the residence, turning it into what the opposition called a “fortress.”
Due to the tense situation, police decided not to carry firearms but only to wear bulletproof vests for the new attempt Wednesday, in case they were met by armed guards, local media reported.
Following his arrest, Yoon can be held for up to 48 hours on the existing warrant. Investigators would need to apply for another arrest warrant to keep him in custody.
Yoon’s legal team had repeatedly decried the warrant as illegal.
In a parallel probe, Yoon’s impeachment trial began Tuesday with a brief hearing after he declined to attend.
Although his failure to attend — which his team has blamed on purported safety concerns — forced a procedural adjournment, the hearings will continue without Yoon, with the next set for Thursday.
Australia summons Russian ambassador over reports captured soldier killed
- Foreign Minister Penny Wong said Australia had been maintaining “a very difficult relationship for many years” with Russia under different governments
SYDNEY: Australia summoned the Russian ambassador over reports a Melbourne man had been killed after being captured by Russia while fighting for Ukraine, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Wednesday.
The Australian government had asked Russian authorities to immediately confirm the status of Oscar Jenkins and remained “gravely concerned” over reports that he had been killed, Albanese said during a media conference.
“We’ll await the facts to come out. But if there has been any harm caused to Oscar Jenkins, that’s absolutely reprehensible and the Australian government will take the strongest action possible,” Albanese said.
When asked by a reporter if Australia would expel the Russian ambassador or recall its envoy in Moscow, Albanese said his government would determine its response after verifying all reports.
Foreign Minister Penny Wong said Australia had been maintaining “a very difficult relationship for many years” with Russia under different governments.
“We will look at the facts when they have been ascertained but I want to be clear all options are on the table,” Wong told ABC Radio on Wednesday. She said the Russian ambassador was summoned by the foreign ministry earlier this week.
Jenkins, a teacher from Melbourne, was serving alongside Ukraine’s military when he was captured by Russia last year as a prisoner of war, Australian media reported. A video taken at the time showed him, dressed in combat uniform, being asked if he was a mercenary, reports said.
Australia is one of the largest non-NATO contributors to the West’s support for Ukraine and has been supplying aid, ammunition and defense equipment.
It has banned exports of alumina and aluminum ores, including bauxite, to Russia, and has sanctioned about 1,000 Russian individuals and entities.
