Two prison escapees from Santo Domingo recaptured in Otongo Mapalí
Two inmates who escaped from the Bellavista Centre were captured on Tuesday in a rural area of Santo Domingo de los Tsáchilas. Four escapees remain at large.
Two of six inmates recaptured after escape from Santo Domingo prison
Two of the six inmates who escaped from the Bellavista prison in Santo Domingo were apprehended on Tuesday 13 October 2026 in the rural sector of Otongo Mapalí, province of Santo Domingo de los Tsáchilas, according to elcomercio.com. The alert was raised by local residents, who notified authorities about the suspicious presence of individuals in the area. Specialised police units were deployed immediately in coordination with residents.
The recaptured prisoners are Serafín Sigifredo Vera Silva and John Moisés Chalco Zambrano, both previously identified in judicial records distributed by authorities. Interior Minister John Reimberg confirmed that the two apprehended men will be transferred to the El Encuentro detention centre.
The escape: a breach in the maximum security wing
The escape occurred in the early hours of Monday 12 October at the Bellavista Centre for Deprivation of Liberty (Santo Domingo No. 1). In total, six inmates from block D of the maximum security wing managed to breach the facility's infrastructure.
Commander Lenin Peralta, acting police commander in the area, detailed the method employed: the prisoners opened a hole in the wall of a cell on the second floor, entered a pipe shaft running through the building, and opened a second breach in the rear to exit to the outside.
Initial investigations established that the escapees headed towards the banks of a nearby watercourse, which prompted the deployment of armed forces patrols and operations using drones.
Malfunctioning cameras and four escapees still at large
Technical examinations detected faults in the prison video surveillance system, both in the internal corridors and around the perimeter of the complex. These faults prevented recording of the movements of the inmates before the escape and determining the exact time it took them to bore through the walls.
The six prisoners whose identities were disclosed by authorities are: Néstor Alfonso Guevara Moreta, José Marcelo Cevallos Zambrano, Alexis Damián Rivas Meneses and Eduardo Manuel Arica Jara—who remain at large—as well as Vera Silva and Chalco Zambrano, who have already been recaptured. Within the group are three individuals convicted or charged with rape, whilst the others have charges for murder, robbery and trafficking in controlled substances. Authorities are also investigating alleged links between some of them and organised crime networks.
To locate the four escapees still at large, the telephone line 1800 DELITO (335486) remains open, with a reward scheme and confidentiality protection for those who provide information.
Source: Google News DO — Santo Domingo