Agony of Ecuador’s brutal prison massacre endures for bereaved relatives

At least 119 inmates died in a Guayaquil jail after local gangs' links with Mexican cartels brought a new level of horror

It was in mid-morning when Maria Elena Villacis got a WhatsApp message from her brother Darwin, who was jailed in the Litoral penitentiary, a notorious prison in the coastal Ecuadorian city of Guayaquil.

They're starting a war in [Wing] 5," it read. Call the law, tell them to get into [Wing] 5."