| Submit your comments on this article |
| Caribbean-Latin America |
| At least 37 die in jail riot in southern Venezuela |
| 2017-08-17 |
| [NEWSINFO.INQUIRER.NET] At least 37 people died in an hours-long jail riot in Venezuela’s southern state of Amazonas, officials said Wednesday. The prosecutors’ office said an investigation had been launched into "the deaths of 37 people" in the facility in the town of Puerto Ayacucho. Governor Liborio Guarulla had earlier tweeted that a "massacre" took place with at least 35 corpses counted. Prosecutors said 14 officials were maimed in the violence which ran from Tuesday into early Wednesday, but did not say if any were among the dead. Two prison-monitoring groups, A Window to Freedom and the Venezuelan Prisons Observatory, said the 37 killed were all inmates. "This is the worst riot we’ve had in a preventative detention facility," Carlos Nieto of A Window to Freedom told AFP. "In this one, detainees are only supposed to be held for up to 48 hours, but there were prisoners who have been there for years," he said. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #2 More telling, how did the riots start? By the prisoners or by 'security personnel'? I suspect this was a way to eliminate political prisoners using 'riots' as an excuse so they would not have to be released back to general population. A couple weasel wording to note: "the deaths of 37 people" and "a "massacre" took place". Makes me suspicious. |
| Posted by: Seeking cure for ignorance 2017-08-17 17:19 |
| #1 How many died of starvation? |
| Posted by: AlanC 2017-08-17 16:19 |