A mutiny in a Venezuelan prison did, Friday 1er May, at least 17 dead and nine injured, including the director of the prison, said a military report, seen by Agence France-Presse (AFP), which said that the death toll could climb.
"Public disorder" took place in the Los Llanos prison center in Guanare (west), when detainees broke "The security fencing delimiting the perimeter" outside the prison, "In a massive escape attempt", according to this document.
Prison staff, guarded by soldiers, attempted mediation with the chief of the mutineers. But the inmates attacked them violently, injuring the director of the penitentiary center "On the shoulder with a pointed object".
"No bread or water"
"The conflict is underway", Carolina Giron of the Venezuelan Prison Observatory, an NGO that defends the rights of detainees, told AFP. According to her, the detainees rose up because they were victims of violence and "Because they are not allowed any visit and they have neither bread nor water". According to her, 2,500 prisoners are crammed into an establishment with a capacity of 750 places.
Due to the coronavirus pandemic which is also raging in Venezuela, visits to detainees of families and relatives have been interrupted. However, prisoners often receive food and medicine through these visits. 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.
Another detainee advocacy organization, Una Ventana a la libertad (A Window to Liberty), said that some 192 people died last year in police station cells due to lack of space in prisons.
Venezuelan authorities say there have been no cases of coronavirus in prisons in the country.
