Venezuela: Official Death Toll in Prison Clash Is 58
Version 0 of 1. The minister of prisons, Iris Varela, said Monday that a prison clash that broke out Friday between inmates and National Guard soldiers had killed 58 people and injured 95. The director of a hospital where the bodies were taken had previously said that 61 people had been killed and 120 injured. Most of the dead were inmates. On Sunday, officials said that they had moved more than 2,000 prisoners from the prison in Barquisimeto, a northwestern city, and sent them to other prisons around the country. The mayhem occurred after troops were sent to search the notoriously violent prison for weapons and establish order. Government opponents have criticized the handling of the episode and say that moving prisoners to other overcrowded facilities will make conditions at those prisons worse. |