The director of Ecuador’s National Service for Comprehensive Attention to Adults and Adolescents Deprived of Liberty (SNAI), retired Police General Guillermo Rodríguez, has resigned.
President Guillermo Lasso accepted the resignation following a recent prison massacre with repercussions in several penitentiaries across the country.
Rodríguez assumed office on October 10, 2022, and was the fifth person to lead the SNAI under Lasso’s administration.
He leaves the position amid a new crisis in the penitentiary system, leading the government to declare a state of emergency in all 36 prisons in the South American nation.
This 60-day emergency measure, enacted on July 25, responded to severe internal unrest in the prisons due to violent confrontations between organized crime groups linked to drug trafficking.
The crisis began on July 22 with armed hostilities in the Penitenciaría del Litoral, the most populated and dangerous prison located in Guayaquil, resulting in 31 inmates killed and 14 wounded.
The disturbances spread to other prisons, with over a hundred prison officers retained, and a hunger strike in approximately a dozen prisons.
The Presidential Communication Secretariat released a statement thanking Rodríguez for his service, courage, and commitment to the country, and announced that a replacement would be named in the coming days.