TMCnet News

Venezuelan soldier dies in operation to quell prison mutiny
[June 17, 2011]

Venezuelan soldier dies in operation to quell prison mutiny


Caracas, Jun 17, 2011 (EFE via COMTEX) -- One soldier was killed and 19 others wounded in an ongoing operation to re-establish control of two mutinous prisons near the Venezuelan capital, Vice President Elias Jaua said Friday.

More than 5,000 National Guard troops moved in at dawn to quell armed uprisings at the Rodeo I and Rodeo II penitentiaries on the outskirts of Caracas.

The soldiers are proceeding slowly and cautiously, "because the instruction we have received from Comandante President Hugo Chavez is to not cause any kind of casualties" among the inmates, Jaua told reporters.

Chavez continues to run the Venezuelan government from the Cuban hospital where he is recovering from emergency surgery underwent last week during an official visit to the island.

National Guard Lt. Luis Jose Rincon, 27, was fatally shot during the operation to retake the prisons, the vice president said.



The troops have secured Rodeo I and are in the process of pacifying Rodeo II, Deputy Interior Minister Nestor Reverol said.

Nearly 75 percent of the two prisons' combined inmate population of 4,711 have gathered in the respective courtyards as instructed, according to authorities.


"These prisons have been taken over by the prison mafias," Jaua said, adding that security forces are acting "in strict adherence to human rights." He sought to reassure inmates' families, some of whom were dispersed with tear gas early Friday while trying to prevent the military from approaching the prisons, saying that the aim of the operation "is not to massacre them (the inmates), but to preserve their lives." Under previous presidents, he said, similar situations usually ended with "a considerable number of deaths" among the inmates.

The attempt to reassert control over the two prisons was spurred by last Sunday's pitched battle between rival gangs inside Rodeo I, an incident that left 22 people dead and 14 injured. EFE arv/dr

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]