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| Several killed and wounded in Venezuela prison battle |
| By Reuters |
| Published: 09/23/2004 |
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At least six inmates were killed and 35 wounded in a Venezuelan prison on Wednesday when rival gangs battled with guns, knives and machetes, authorities said. National Guard troops later stormed the prison after rioting inmates set fire to administrative offices, the director of the national prison system, Erling Rojas, told Reuters. "The official casualty figure now is six dead from gunshot wounds and 35 others wounded," said Rojas, who attributed the deaths to "settling of scores" between inmates. Local television stations broadcast images of officials hauling bodies covered with blankets into ambulances outside the prison in central Lara State. Several prisoners were decapitated and other mutilated with machetes, an official told local reporters. The clash was sparked by an earlier riot on Sunday in which two prisoners were killed. Riots and gang feuds are common in Venezuela's overcrowded prisons where 20,000 inmates are packed into 30 jails with a capacity for around 12,000, according to estimates by local human rights groups. The government often promises to overhaul prisons, but rights workers say little has been done to improve conditions. Nearly 200 prisoners had been killed and 400 wounded in riots and violent clashes up to mid-September this year, according to Venezuela Prison Observers, a local prisoner advocacy group. |
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