Inmates at a Venezuelan prison staged a protest on its roof on Sunday, piling flaming mattresses and calling for the removal of the centre's director, who they said had overseen guards as they shot unarmed prisoners.
Inmates Take Control
Hundreds of inmates were heard chanting 'no more torture' as they took control of the Barinas Judicial Detention Centre. 'We want justice. They are shooting us, the guards and the wardens,' a prisoner said in a video shared by the Venezuelan Prison Observatory, a local NGO, on X, in which a man is seen with a bullet wound in his chest. Inmates said they were peacefully protesting when prison staff opened fire and left some wounded. Venezuelan authorities did not immediately respond to a request for comment by Reuters.
Footage Shows Smoke and Flames
Footage shows large columns of smoke from burning mattresses and sheets rising from the prison, located around 310 miles from Caracas, as inmates gathered on the roof, chanting, 'No more torture!' and hanging 'SOS' banners. Prisoners called for the removal of the recently appointed prison director Elvis Macuare Guerrero. They said their clothes had been taken away, they had been banned from receiving visits and pressured to sell drugs.
Members of the Bolivarian National Guard (GNB) stood guard outside the prison as inmates' family members clashed with officers armed with riot shields, unsuccessfully attempting to stop them from entering. The NGO said it was documenting the events and reporting them to human rights watchdogs.
Background of Prison Conditions
For years, activists have criticised overcrowding, limited food and a lack of medical care in Venezuelan prisons, alongside what they allege are systematic human rights violations. In April, the government confirmed the deaths of five people during a riot at the high-security Yare III prison near Caracas.
Venezuela has released hundreds of political detainees since US forces captured autocratic leader Nicolas Maduro in a stunning raid on the capital Caracas on January 3. The landmark amnesty law, which was adopted in February, is one of the most significant reforms passed by Maduro's interim successor, Delcy Rodriguez, under pressure from Washington. Some Venezuelans have, however, expressed frustration at the pace of the releases.
Regional Context
The prison riot comes months after a deadly uprising that broke out at a jail in Ecuador, where inmates were set to be transferred to a new maximum-security facility, left at least 31 inmates killed. Violence at the Mchala prison in southwest Ecuador last November saw 27 inmates die of asphyxiation and four others of unspecified causes. Authorities initially reported regaining control of the facility after only four deaths, but later reported the additional deaths following what they said was a separate flare-up of rioting. The violence broke out over plans for a 'reorganisation of inmates' to a new maximum-security prison that will soon begin operating in a different province, the prisons agency said.
Ecuador’s prisons have become among the deadliest in Latin America as overcrowding, corruption and weak state control have allowed gangs connected to drug traffickers in Colombia and Mexico to proliferate. Many prisoners are heavily armed with weapons smuggled from the outside and continue to organise criminal activity from behind bars. More than 500 people have died in prison riots since 2021.
