Located in an isolated spot in the coastal province of Santa Elena, Ecuador's new maximum security prison , one of the major infrastructure projects promised by President Daniel Noboa that aims to replicate the "Bukele model", received its first 300 prisoners , a group classified as highly dangerous, including former Correísta vice president Jorge Glas .
The prisoner transfer occurred just one day after 31 inmates were killed in a clash between members of two rival criminal gangs inside the Machala prison. The government attributed the massacre to this prison movement, which was rejected by the prisoners.
The arrival of prisoners at this jail, which began on Monday and continued on Tuesday, comes at the start of a decisive week in which Noboa is gambling his political capital with a referendum he called to establish a Constituent Assembly to draft a new constitution , among other reforms such as the establishment of foreign military bases.
This prison, with a capacity for 736 inmates, was one of Noboa's major campaign promises upon taking office in 2023, along with another similar project that has yet to materialize. Construction began in June 2024 with a budget of $52 million, and the work was carried out by Puentes y Calzadas Infraestructuras, a subsidiary of the Spanish Grupo Puentes, which controls the state-owned China Road and Bridge Corporation.
Named by Noboa as the Prison of Encounter in reference to the slogan of the government of former president Guillermo Lasso (2021-2023), which the current president replaced, this prison is located in an inhospitable area of the coastal province of Santa Elena, one of the most affected by the crime and violence that has plagued the country for years.
Noboa “welcomes” Glas
Hours after the transfer of the first prisoners was announced, the president confirmed the presence of the former vice president of Correa in the new facilities despite the latest precautionary measures issued by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR), which requested the Ecuadorian State to guarantee the physical and mental health of the former politician.
“Welcome to your new home. Other criminals will soon arrive,” Noboa said on social media, along with photos of Glas, who until now had been in La Roca prison, dressed in the usual orange prison uniforms. “They’ll start complaining now ,” added Noboa, who has been criticized by human rights organizations that denounce abuses by the security forces amid the government’s hardline policies and frequent states of emergency.
Glas currently has three convictions for corruption offenses, and since April 2024 he has been back in prison after Noboa ordered the attack on the Mexican embassy in Quito to recapture him and forcibly remove him, once the former vice president had received asylum from the Mexican government, which considered him a political refugee.
Before his arrest inside the Mexican embassy, the former key figure in Rafael Correa's government (2007-2017) still had an eight-year sentence remaining to be served for two corruption convictions. In June, Glas was again sentenced to 13 years in prison for embezzling public funds during the reconstruction efforts in areas affected by the 2016 earthquake.
After learning of Glas's transfer to this prison, the former vice president's lawyer, Sonia Vera , denounced Glas as the victim of an "act of contempt (towards the measures dictated by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights) and institutional humiliation ." The lawyer stated that "the public announcement of a prison transfer without notification to his defense, without a medical report, and without the intervention of the technical committee ordered by the Inter-American system constitutes a serious and intentional violation of the American Convention."
More than 600 dead from prison violence
This prison was promoted by Noboa as a response to the crisis of criminal violence that has plagued Ecuadorian prisons in recent years, where more than 600 inmates have been killed since 2021 , most of them in a series of massacres due to clashes between rival gangs such as Los Choneros, Los Lobos and Los Lagartos, among others.
According to Interior Minister John Reimberg, the new prison has "all the technological measures" to ensure that "no device other than what should exist inside this prison can enter," in addition to having "everything necessary for medical care" to prevent prisoners from having to go to hospitals.
The government is expected to hire retired police and military personnel to handle their security, instead of agents from the National Service for Comprehensive Care for Persons Deprived of Liberty (SNAI), the executive office in charge of managing and guarding prisons.
The vast majority of Ecuador's prisons have been militarized since January 2024, when President Daniel Noboa declared an "internal armed conflict" to combat violence in the country, which is experiencing the worst crisis in its recent history, to the point of leading Latin America in homicide rates.
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Ecuador: The new "Bukele-style" prison receives its first 300 inmates.
https://www.pagina12.com.ar/2025/11/11/ecuador-la-nueva-carcel-estilo-bukele-recibe-a-sus-primeros-300-presos/Located in an isolated spot in the coastal province of Santa Elena, Ecuador's new maximum security prison , one of the major infrastructure projects promised by President Daniel Noboa that aims to replicate the "Bukele model", received its first 300 prisoners , a group classified as highly dangerous, including former Correísta vice president Jorge Glas .
The prisoner transfer occurred just one day after 31 inmates were killed in a clash between members of two rival criminal gangs inside the Machala prison. The government attributed the massacre to this prison movement, which was rejected by the prisoners.
The arrival of prisoners at this jail, which began on Monday and continued on Tuesday, comes at the start of a decisive week in which Noboa is gambling his political capital with a referendum he called to establish a Constituent Assembly to draft a new constitution , among other reforms such as the establishment of foreign military bases.
This prison, with a capacity for 736 inmates, was one of Noboa's major campaign promises upon taking office in 2023, along with another similar project that has yet to materialize. Construction began in June 2024 with a budget of $52 million, and the work was carried out by Puentes y Calzadas Infraestructuras, a subsidiary of the Spanish Grupo Puentes, which controls the state-owned China Road and Bridge Corporation.
Named by Noboa as the Prison of Encounter in reference to the slogan of the government of former president Guillermo Lasso (2021-2023), which the current president replaced, this prison is located in an inhospitable area of the coastal province of Santa Elena, one of the most affected by the crime and violence that has plagued the country for years.
Noboa “welcomes” Glas
Hours after the transfer of the first prisoners was announced, the president confirmed the presence of the former vice president of Correa in the new facilities despite the latest precautionary measures issued by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR), which requested the Ecuadorian State to guarantee the physical and mental health of the former politician.
“Welcome to your new home. Other criminals will soon arrive,” Noboa said on social media, along with photos of Glas, who until now had been in La Roca prison, dressed in the usual orange prison uniforms. “They’ll start complaining now ,” added Noboa, who has been criticized by human rights organizations that denounce abuses by the security forces amid the government’s hardline policies and frequent states of emergency.
Glas currently has three convictions for corruption offenses, and since April 2024 he has been back in prison after Noboa ordered the attack on the Mexican embassy in Quito to recapture him and forcibly remove him, once the former vice president had received asylum from the Mexican government, which considered him a political refugee.
Before his arrest inside the Mexican embassy, the former key figure in Rafael Correa's government (2007-2017) still had an eight-year sentence remaining to be served for two corruption convictions. In June, Glas was again sentenced to 13 years in prison for embezzling public funds during the reconstruction efforts in areas affected by the 2016 earthquake.
After learning of Glas's transfer to this prison, the former vice president's lawyer, Sonia Vera , denounced Glas as the victim of an "act of contempt (towards the measures dictated by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights) and institutional humiliation ." The lawyer stated that "the public announcement of a prison transfer without notification to his defense, without a medical report, and without the intervention of the technical committee ordered by the Inter-American system constitutes a serious and intentional violation of the American Convention."
More than 600 dead from prison violence
This prison was promoted by Noboa as a response to the crisis of criminal violence that has plagued Ecuadorian prisons in recent years, where more than 600 inmates have been killed since 2021 , most of them in a series of massacres due to clashes between rival gangs such as Los Choneros, Los Lobos and Los Lagartos, among others.
According to Interior Minister John Reimberg, the new prison has "all the technological measures" to ensure that "no device other than what should exist inside this prison can enter," in addition to having "everything necessary for medical care" to prevent prisoners from having to go to hospitals.
The government is expected to hire retired police and military personnel to handle their security, instead of agents from the National Service for Comprehensive Care for Persons Deprived of Liberty (SNAI), the executive office in charge of managing and guarding prisons.
The vast majority of Ecuador's prisons have been militarized since January 2024, when President Daniel Noboa declared an "internal armed conflict" to combat violence in the country, which is experiencing the worst crisis in its recent history, to the point of leading Latin America in homicide rates.