Operating in Venezuelan Prison must be investigated: Human Rights Watch (HRW)

BY: EFE | 03:16 pm | 02.01.2013 | RumboThe organization Human Rights Watch (HRW) today called Venezuela investigate "the use of lethal force" by security agents in a search last week in prison Uribana that killed 58 people, and take measures to prevent further incidents.

Dead in operating in Venezuelan prison should be investigated, so says the organization Human Rights Watch. In the photo, relatives of the dead outside the prison.Photo: APCONTEXT

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Washington. - In a press release, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said Venezuela authorities should take measures to prevent incidents like last January 25, 2013, during a search in a prison for weapons.According to official reports, at least 58 people were killed during the clash between National Guard members and prison inmates Uribana, in the state of Lara. The incident also left 46 inmates seriously injured requiring hospitalization."The death toll raises serious concerns that lethal force used Uribana in jail may have been greatly disproportionate to the security needs," said José Miguel Vivanco, Americas director at Human Rights Watch."While the Government is justified in disarming the prisoners, when there is resistance from controls should always observe international principles on the use of deadly force," he added.HRW echoed media reports that the prison "was first surrounded with tanks and then hundreds of National Guard soldiers participated in an operation to confiscate weapons."According to the human rights group, Correctional Services Minister of Venezuela, Iris Varela, said he had ordered the requisition to violence among inmates, some of whom had attacked members of the National Guard just started operating.Acting Vice President of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, asked the Attorney General's Office, Luisa Ortega Díaz, and President of the National Assembly (Parliament), Diosdado Cabello, who initiated an investigation into the deaths, said HRW.However, in the past, the intervention of the Office and other legislators in the investigation of similar incidents in 2011 and 2012 did not result in "any public explanation of what happened or (led) to be determined the identities of those responsible for deaths and wounded "complained Vivanco.For many years, according to HRW, persist in Venezuelan prisons problems such as overcrowding, poor conditions, a high proportion of remand prisoners who are serving, and "corrupt guards who smuggle weapons and drugs to prisoners."Moreover, he continued, it is common for deaths occurring during internal clashes between gangs vying for control of the prison.In 2012, 591 inmates were killed and others injured in 1.132 incidents of violence in Venezuelan prisons, including one in the same prison, according to the Venezuelan Prisons Observatory organization.