Dozens reported killed in Venezuela prison riot

CARACAS, Venezuela: A bloody riot erupted in a Venezuelan prison when National Guard troops clashed with inmates, and Venezuelan media reported that dozens were killed.
Vice President Nicolas Maduro called the violence tragic early yesterday on television and said the authorities had launched an investigation.
He and other officials did not give a death toll from the riot Friday at Uribana prison in the central Venezuelan city of Barquisimeto.
The newspaper Ultimas Noticias reported on its website that 54 people were killed. The television channel Globovision reported at least 50 killed and about 90 injured. Both cited Ruy Medina, the director of Central Hospital in the city.
Penitentiary Service Minister Iris Varela said the riot broke out when groups of inmates attacked National Guard troops who were attempting to carry out an inspection.
Varela said the violence had affected a number of prisoners and officials, but said the authorities would hold off until control had been re-established at the prison to confirm the toll. She said the government decided to send troops to search the prison after receiving reports of clashes between groups of inmates during the past two days.
The death toll provided by Medina rose late Friday after he had initially reported four killed and dozens injured. Ultimas Noticias reported that the victims included a Protestant pastor and a member of the National Guard, as well as inmates.
Opposition leader Henrique Capriles condemned the government’s handling of the country’s overcrowded and violent prisons.
“Our country’s prisons are an example of the incapacity of this government and its leaders. They never solved the problem,” Capriles said on his Twitter account. “How many more deaths do there have to be in the prisons for the government to acknowledge its failure and make changes?“
Uribana prison was built to hold up to 850 inmates but currently has about 1,400, according to the Venezuelan Prisons Observatory, a watchdog group.
It was the latest in a series of bloody riots in the country’s prisons. In April and May, a prison uprising in La Planta prison in Caracas blocked authorities from going inside for nearly three weeks. One prisoner was killed and five people were wounded, including two National Guard soldiers and three inmates.
Two months later, another riot broke out at a prison in Merida, and the Venezuelan Prisons Observatory reported 30 killed.