Director of Ecuador's Penitentiary System Resigns

Guillermo Rodriguez, SNAI's fifth director in the government of President Guillermo Lasso. Aug. 2, 2023.

Published 2 August 2023

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Guillermo Rodríguez took office on October 10 last year and was the fifth person to head the SNAI so far in the Lasso administration.

Ecuador's President Guillermo Lasso accepted on Wednesday the resignation of retired Police General Guillermo Rodriguez as director of the National Service of Integral Attention to Adults Deprived of Liberty and Adolescent Offenders (SNAI).

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The General Secretariat of Communication of the Presidency reported in a statement that Lasso accepted Rodriguez's resignation and "thanked him for the services rendered, for his courage and commitment to the country."

His replacement will be announced in the coming days, according to the statement. This comes amid a new crisis in the South American country's prison system.

Rodriguez, took office on October 10 last year and was the fifth person to hold the headship of SNAI so far in Lasso's government that began in May 2021.

El presidente de la República, @LassoGuillermo, aceptó esta tarde la renuncia de Guillermo Rodríguez como director del @SNAI_Ec. Le agradeció por los servicios prestados, por su valentía y compromiso con el país. En los próximos días se anunciará su reemplazo.
— Comunicación Ecuador �� (@ComunicacionEc) August 2, 2023

The tweet reads, "The President of the Republic, Guillermo Lasso, accepted this afternoon the resignation of Guillermo Rodríguez as director of @SNAI_Ec . He thanked him for the services rendered, for his courage and commitment to the country. His replacement will be announced in the coming days."

The government decreed last July 25 a state of emergency in the 36 prisons of the country. A three-day riot was registered since Saturday, July 22 in the Guayas Prison No. 1 (CPL), also known as Penitenciaría del Litoral, in the city of Guayaquil. It left 31 prisoners dead, according to a report by the Attorney General's Office (FGE).

This massacre had repercussions in several other prisons with detainee actions reported at the same time in prisons in the provinces of Azuay, Cañar, Cotopaxi, Loja and Napo. There were incidents that included the detention of more than a hundred prison officers, in addition to a hunger strike in a dozen prisons.

The state of emergency was adopted "due to the serious internal commotion" in prisons due to violent confrontations between organized crime groups linked to drug trafficking. The measure will be in force for 60 days.