In Ecuador, all prison guards taken hostage by armed gangs have been released. The military is cracking down on gangs across the country.

After suppressing hostage crisis in prison in Ambato, Ecuador, the army publishes this photo Photo: Armed Forces of Ecuador via Reuters

QUITO dpa | Amid fierce clashes between criminal gangs and state security forces in Ecuador, all prison officials taken hostage have been released. The Department of Corrections announced this on Saturday (local time). Initially, 41 of the hostages, 24 prison guards and 17 administrative employees, were released on Saturday.

The remaining 136 prison officers who had been held by mutinous prisoners in various prisons in the South American country were later released. One guard was killed and another wounded in clashes at a prison, he added.

Recently, criminal gangs rioted in several prisons and took numerous guards under their control. Many prisons in Ecuador are controlled by crime syndicates. Often, security forces simply ensure that prisoners remain in detention centers. Inside the walls they are largely left to their own devices.

After gunmen stormed a studio of state television TC Televisión during a live news broadcast on Tuesday and took numerous hostages, the government sent the armed forces into the fight against the gangs. President Daniel Noboa declared by decree that Ecuador was in an internal armed conflict. He declared that 22 criminal groups are terrorist organizations and non-state warring parties that must be eliminated.

At least 19 people have died so far in the violence. According to government figures, 859 suspects had been arrested as of Saturday. The government announced on Saturday night (local time) that firearms, ammunition, explosives, incendiary devices, boats and vehicles were seized during operations across the country.

The security situation in Ecuador had recently deteriorated dramatically. The homicide rate of 46.5 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants last year was the highest in the history of the once peaceful Andean nation and one of the highest in Latin America.

Multiple gangs with ties to powerful Mexican cartels fight for control of drug trafficking routes. Ecuador is an important transit country for cocaine from Colombia, Peru and Bolivia that is smuggled to the United States and Europe.