A mutiny on Friday in a prison in the west of Venezuela left at least 47 dead and 75 injured, according to a new report released on Saturday by a prisoner rights NGO and an opposition MP.
“So far, we have been able to confirm 47 dead and 75 injured”, MP Maria Beatriz Martinez, an elected member of the Portuguesa state where the prison is located, told AFP figures also given by the Venezuelan Prison Observatory. A previous military report said 17 were dead and nine were injured Friday evening.
“Massacre”
The Venezuelan Prison Observatory gave the same figures, describing this mutiny as “Massacre”. According to these two sources, all the deceased were detainees from the Los Llanos prison center, located in the city of Guanare.
The Venezuelan authorities did not provide any figures on Saturday. A previous report in an army report said 17 were dead and nine were injured Friday evening.
According to this document, to which the AFP had access, “Disturbances of public order” took place in the prison on Friday when detainees broke up “The security fencing delimiting the perimeter” outside the establishment, “In a massive escape attempt”. The prison director was himself injured.
No access to food
A story refuted by MP Maria Beatriz Martinez. According to her, “There was no attempt to escape. There was an uprising by a group of prisoners who protested because they did not have access to food “.
Due of the coronavirus pandemic which is also rampant in Venezuela, visits by families and relatives to detainees have been drastically reduced. However, detainees often receive food and medicine through these visits.
The new balance sheet of the mutiny has been established “Through the morgue, thanks to relatives who recognized the dead in the photos we showed them on computer”said Carolina Giron of the Venezuelan Prison Observatory.
According to the Observatory, some 97 detainees died behind bars last year, 70% of them from illnesses such as tuberculosis, due to lack of medicines and medical care. Venezuelan authorities say there have been no cases of coronavirus in prisons in the country.
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