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Dozens Killed in Clashes at a Venezuelan Prison Dozens Killed in Clashes at a Venezuelan Prison
(about 3 hours later)
CARACAS, Venezuela — Dozens of people have been killed in fierce clashes between inmates and National Guard soldiers at a Venezuelan prison, local news media accounts said Saturday.CARACAS, Venezuela — Dozens of people have been killed in fierce clashes between inmates and National Guard soldiers at a Venezuelan prison, local news media accounts said Saturday.
It was the latest in a series of bloody riots over the past year in overcrowded prisons here, where guns and drugs abound and inmates control many aspects of prison life.It was the latest in a series of bloody riots over the past year in overcrowded prisons here, where guns and drugs abound and inmates control many aspects of prison life.
Newspapers reported that more than 50 people had been killed at the Uribana prison in Barquisimeto, a northwestern city, citing the director of a hospital where the wounded and the dead were taken. The reports said that more than 80 people had been injured.Newspapers reported that more than 50 people had been killed at the Uribana prison in Barquisimeto, a northwestern city, citing the director of a hospital where the wounded and the dead were taken. The reports said that more than 80 people had been injured.
The minister of prisons, Iris Varela, said the violence broke out Friday when National Guard troops entered the prison to conduct an inspection, with the aim of taking weapons away from prisoners and establishing order. The minister of prisons, Iris Varela, said the violence broke out Friday when troops entered the prison to search for weapons and establish order.
“There was a tragic situation of confusion that we lament very much,” Vice President Nicolás Maduro said on television early Saturday. Mr. Maduro spoke after returning to Venezuela from Cuba, where he had gone to visit the country’s ailing president, Hugo Chávez, who has been out of sight since undergoing surgery in Havana for cancer more than six weeks ago. The situation remained chaotic on Saturday. Local news media reports said that most of the dead were prisoners.
Mr. Maduro is running the country in Mr. Chávez’s absence. “We are all afraid because we don’t want to die,” said a man who identified himself as an inmate inside the prison when reached Saturday by cellphone; it is typical for inmates here to have phones.
He described the prison as one of the country’s most dangerous, and he promised an investigation. “The prisons must be governed by the law,” he said. The 27-year-old inmate, imprisoned on a robbery charge, asked not to be identified for fear that speaking out could put him at risk. He said that many of the inmates remained inside the prison, although the dead and badly wounded had been removed.
There were conflicting reports about the episode but it appeared that inmates had resisted efforts by the National Guard to enter areas of the prison. The local news media reports indicated that some of the inmate bosses, known as prans, had been killed in the raid. The reports said that most of the dead were prisoners. “We are hiding here, waiting to find out what happens to us, for them to help us,” he said.
Ms. Varela said that two days before the raid the authorities received information of an increase in violence inside the prison, involving a settling of scores between different factions vying for control. The episode represented a new test for the government as President Hugo Chávez remains out of sight in Cuba, where he has been for more than six weeks undergoing treatment for cancer. Top officials have been trying to show that the government is running smoothly, even as they grapple with uncertainty around the president’s health, a constitutional dispute over the start of his new term, severe shortages of basic goods and signs of resurgent inflation.
At that point, she said, the decision was made to have the troops enter the prison. “There was a tragic situation of confusion that we lament very much,” Vice President Nicolás Maduro said early Saturday, promising an investigation of the prison violence. He spoke after returning from Cuba, where he had gone to visit Mr. Chávez.
But she said that word of the operation leaked out and that it was reported by a television station, Globovision, on the Web site of a local newspaper and on social networking sites. Ms. Varela said that officials decided to conduct the raid after receiving information that violence had increased between inmate factions vying for control.
She called the reports “a detonator of the violence” and blamed them for setting off the riot inside the prison. But she said that word of the operation leaked out and that it was reported by a television station and a local newspaper and social networking sites.
Last August, 25 people were killed and dozens were wounded in gunfights between inmates battling for control of the Yare I prison south of Caracas, according the official reports. Ms. Varela called the reports “a detonator of the violence.”
Also last summer, 30 people were killed in a prison riot in Merida, in the Andes Mountains, according the Venezuela Prison Observatory, a nongovernmental watchdog group. Outside the prison on Saturday morning a few hundred people, including many anguished relatives of prisoners, waited for news. Some sang the national anthem and some held signs that said “We want peace” and “No more deaths.” She said that the bodies of the dead had wounds from knives and weapons, firearms and explosives made by prisoners and that some were killed before the troops arrived.
The Venezuelan Prison Observatory, a human rights group, said 560 prisoners were killed in the nation’s prisons in 2011.
Last year, two major episodes left dozens dead: 25 people were killed at one prison, the government said, and 30 died in another, the Prison Observatory said.
Outside the Barquisimeto prison and a hospital on Saturday, hundreds of people, mostly inmates’ relatives, waited for news.
“This happens all the time and nothing changes,” said Yolanda Rodríguez, 57, who was waiting for information about her 24-year-old son, an inmate in the prison. “We know nothing about what’s happening inside.”“This happens all the time and nothing changes,” said Yolanda Rodríguez, 57, who was waiting for information about her 24-year-old son, an inmate in the prison. “We know nothing about what’s happening inside.”

Girish Gupta contributed reporting from Barquisimeto, Venezuela.

William Neuman reported from Caracas, and Girish Gupta from Barquisimeto, Venezuela.