Quito, Ecuador: Assailants shot down the chief of an Ecuador jail Sunday as citizens across the country cast votes on proposed tougher measures to fight against gang-related crime.
The national prison authority said in a statement Damian Parrales, chief of the El Rodero jail in Manabi state, lost life in the attack.
Ecuadoran prisons have become centers for organized crime groups and a bloody fight that has claimed the lives of more than 460 prisoners in three years.
Parrales, who had assumed his post five days ago, was shot down while eating lunch with his family in the town of Jipijapa.
Once-peaceful Ecuador has been fighting with a shocking wave of violence, flaring up due to narcotics trafficking.
President Daniel Noboa has said that the results of the referendum will determine the course and the state policy to counter organized crimes.
About 13.6 million of the country’s 17.7 million population were eligible to cast a “Yes” or “No” on 11 referendum queries on the ballot.
Polls were closed in the early evening, and preliminary results were expected to come within hours.
Noboa declares state of internal armed conflict
Noboa in January declared a state of internal armed conflict, with about 20 criminal groups involved in violence sparked by the jailbreak of a major drug lord.
Gangsters abducted dozens of people, including police and prison officials and opened fire in a TV studio during a live transmission.
Despite the deployment of soldiers to fight gangs, violence has increased. Two mayors have also been assassinated in the past week.
Since January last year, at least a dozen politicians have been killed in Ecuador, including presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio, who was shot down in August last year after a campaign event.
In Sunday’s vote, Noboa is seeking popular support for his plans to push harder on those responsible for such crimes.
