Ecuador's Lasso declares state of emergency across prison system

FILE PHOTO: Ecuador's President Guillermo Lasso gives his annual report to the nation, a week after dissolving the National Assembly and calling for early elections, in Quito, Ecuador, May 24, 2023. REUTERS/Karen Toro/FILE PHOTO

QUITO (Reuters) - Ecuador's President Guillermo Lasso has declared a 60-day state of emergency throughout the country's prisons and authorized the armed forces to retake control of jails, the government said on Tuesday, following a wave of violence over the weekend.

Clashes between organized criminal gangs have taken place since Saturday at the Penitenciaria del Litoral prison in the city of Guayaquil, leading to the deaths of at least six inmates while 11 were injured.