GUAYAQUIL, ECUADOR - FEBRUARY 09: An Ecuadorian soldier stands guard over inmates at Litoral Penitentiary, the country's largest prison, during a media visit on February 09, 2024 on the outskirts of Guayaquil, Ecuador. In the month since Ecuador's President Daniel Noboa declared a state of 'internal armed conflict" to fight surging gang violence, thousands of people have been arrested nationwide, many of them sent to Litoral. On January 9th, the leader of the Choneros gang, José Adolfo Macías, aka "Fito", escaped from the prison to avoid being transferred to a maximum security section of the facility. His armed men in Guayaquil then went on a rampage, exploding bombs in the city and taking over a live television broadcast, shocking TV audiences and precipitating the national state of emergency. The military now controls the prison, which had previously been run by gang leaders, who extorted from the inmate population and ran their organized crime gangs from inside the prison. The government has officially labeled them as terrorists. As part of the new rules, prisoners have been cut off from all communication with the outside world, including family members, and their cellblocks are without electricity. (Photo by John Moore/Getty Images)