12 dead in Venezuelan prison clash – official

CARACAS, Venezuela – An outbreak of violence between rival gangs at a prison in eastern Venezuela has left 12 dead and 11 injured, the government said Wednesday, April 26.

A spokesman for the ministry of penitentiary affairs, who gave the toll of dead and wounded, said 9 of those killed died of gunshot wounds.

The deadly clashes erupted early Tuesday in the eastern city of Barcelona at the Jose Antonio Anzoategui prison, considered one of the country’s most violent.

The prison had been undergoing reforms aimed in part at disarming inmates but “there are still arms there and there are prisoners who rebelled,” the ministry spokesman said.

“At this moment, an investigation is still underway, and this Wednesday those responsible will be brought before the courts.”

The Venezuelan Observatory of Prisons, a non-governmental monitoring group, said 14 inmates were killed at the prison last year.

Estimates of the country’s prison population range from nearly 55,000 to 88,000, many of them in overcrowded jails awaiting prosecution. The government provides no official figures on inmate populations. – Rappler.com