(CNN Spanish) – María Daniela Icaza, director in charge of the Litoral Penitentiary, who died on Thursday in an armed attack, did not have security even though she had received threats and communicated them to her superior, her brother Víctor Andrés Cevallos assured CNN.
“There were several threats. In images and messages they sent him, they told him where her house was, who her husband was, who her children were. They told him: if you don’t do what we want, you will pay the consequences,” Cevallos told CNN’s Fernando del Rincón.
On Thursday, the Ecuadorian Service for Persons Deprived of Liberty confirmed Icaza’s death to CNN. In a statement, he added that another official was injured in the attack.
The director of the most dangerous prison in Ecuador is murdered in an armed attack
The Litoral Penitentiary, or Men’s Social Rehabilitation Center No. 1 of Guayaquil, is considered the most dangerous prison in the country, from where organized crime groups have caused several massacres and riots in recent years.
CNN asked the Ministry of the Interior if the official had police protection or security escorts and if she had a risk report on Icaza, and is awaiting a response.
Víctor Andrés Cevallos told Fernando del Rincón that Icaza informed his superior of the threats he had received and requested additional security.
“They never gave her or her companion a weapon. They did not provide her with anything with which she could defend herself against it. (…) She was not given the necessary tools to fulfill her duty, which was to work for the State, to work for those people who, supposedly, should be rehabilitating,” she assured.
He added that, given the risk it represented to his life, his relatives asked Icaza to resign from the direction of the Litoral Penitentiary.
“We asked him to get out of that job, but, as we know, Ecuador does not go through easy situations. (Icaza) had his expenses, he never lived a life of luxury. And, for some reason, Daniela was passionate about working there. (…) She was motivated by justice and bringing something to eat home,” he stated.
Víctor Andrés Cevallos told CNN that the Government of Ecuador has not communicated with them and that they fear for their lives.
“My family is unprotected. Nobody from the Government has communicated. We are afraid, we do not have any type of protection. The fear is real… after seeing my sister, I don’t want to see this for anyone else, like my brother-in-law, my nephews,” she assured.
With information from Ana María Cañizares and Fernando del Rincón
