Prison uprising continues in Venezuela

GUATIRE, Venezuela — A violent prison siege is continuing into its sixth day, with dozens reported killed as more than 5,000 troops attempt to regain control of El Rodeo jail after violence between inmates has escalated to what have been described as “Dante-esque” proportions.

The National Guard has formed a 1-kilometer cordon around the complex, which is just east of the capital Caracas. Hundreds of primarily female family members and friends remain in tears outside it, clueless as to what’s going on inside.

Many, like Betsy Oviedo, whose 20-year-old son is incarcerated in El Rodeo, believe that authorities are massacring the prisoners in order to take control.

“There are too many deaths, too many that they have killed, burned and slaughtered,” she said, distraught and standing just outside the National Guard cordon. “We are all here waiting for them to tell us if our relatives are dead or alive.”

Violence erupted at the prison earlier this month with a nine-hour shootout between inmates that left 22 dead, according to official figures. The real death toll is thought to be three or four times that. 

Carlos Nieto Palma, a lawyer and university professor specializing in human rights who also runs the NGO Window to Freedom, says he visited a morgue last week and counted 68 bodies from the jail.

“This makes this one of the most violent events to have occurred in a Venezuelan jail in the past 10 years,” he said. “We face a truly serious prison crisis in which the state has not shown up with solutions and this has led to chaos.”

No one is certain of the cause of the violence, which could be simple escalating rivalries. The situation inside undoubtedly perpetuates violence between gangs as weapons and drugs are readily available to inmates.

Thousands of troops on Friday stormed the prison to disarm the inmates, leading to the current violence. In the latest incident, official figures claim one prisoner and two National Guard troops have been killed.

However, a different story is being told by videos and pictures that have begun to surface on the internet. One inmate with a mobile phone told the Associated Press of 17 dead inside, adding to reports from some leaving the prison of at least four bodies beginning to decompose. Mobile phone images and videos appear to corroborate the rumors.

Another prisoner told Venezuela’s Globovision that security forces were preparing to commit a massacre inside the jail. “They want to finish off El Rodeo II,” he said. “They want to kill everyone.

Venezuela up-to-date

The Chavez code, cracking U.S. intervention in Venezuela

Venezuela, Hugo Chávez and the decline of an "exceptional democracy"

Venezuela-British Guiana boundary arbitration, The printed argument of behalf of the United States of Venezuela before the Tribunal of arbitration

Oil and development in Venezuela during the 20th century