Venezuelan prison riot leaves at least 46 dead, 60 injured

Venezuelan prison riot leaves at least 46 dead, 60 injured
# 02 May 2020 20:48 (UTC +04:00)

A prison riot in the western Venezuelan state of Portuguesa has left at least 46 people dead and 60 injured, according to a rights group and an opposition lawmaker, APA reports quoting Reuters.

Beatriz Giron, director of the Venezuelan Observatory of Prisons which advocates for inmates’ rights, said 46 bodies had been identified after the incident on Friday at the Los Llanos penitentiary. The South American country’s prisons are infamous for extreme levels of violence and poor conditions.

The country’s prisons minister, Iris Varela, told local newspaper Ultimas Noticias on Friday that the incident resulted from an escape attempt and that the prison director had been shot and wounded. She did not give a death toll, and Venezuela’s information ministry did not respond to a request for comment.

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