A riot exploded on Friday at a prison in central Venezuela, killing over 40 people and injuring 50 others. Injured individuals, according to authorities, included a National Guard officer who got wounded by an explosion, and the warden, who was hurt by a knife wound.

An inmate protest that was demanding that their relatives be permitted to deliver food to them started upheaval that took place at the Llanos Penitentiary Centre. 

Then, according to a lawmaker, Maria Beatriz Martinez, an armed confrontation took place between the guards and the inmates. The lawmaker added, the National Guard officer got injured after a grenade exploded.

Martinez also had access to an early report, which the security forces of the town prepared. Essentially, the prison is situated in the Guanare City, 280 miles, or 450 kilometers southwest of the Caracas capital.

Inmates Allegedly Attacked the Officers

Iris Verela, the minister of penitentiary services of Venezuela, confirmed the riot was explaining to the Ultimas Noticias, the local newspaper, that "a group of inmates attacked officers standing guard" outside the prison.

Meanwhile, the warden was reportedly injured by at least one prisoner who wielded a knife. A formerly wealthy oil nation, Venezuela is currently gripped by a worsening economic and political crisis.

Street violence is said to be typical in the nation that has had almost five million residents escape in recent years as the public services dissolve.

Venezuela has approximately 30 prisons and 500 jails that can accommodate roughly 110,000 prisoners. According to the human rights officials, the prisons are badly overcrowded violent with gangs trafficking weapons, not to mention, "drugs in control."

Specifically, the Venezuelan Prison Observatory, a human rights group, the prison in Guanare was constructed to accommodate only 750 inmates. However, it is now jammed way beyond its capacity that it now houses 2500 inmates.

Massive Escape Attempt due to Lack of Access to Food

As far as the exact figures are concerned, as of this writing, Martinez, who also represents the Portuguesa state, the precise location of the prison, said, at present, they "have been able to confirm 47 dead and 75 wounded."

Martinez also said all of the confirmed dead were detainees of the prison. Also, based on the report from the Army on Friday, the riot started when the prisoners began to destroy the security fences around the boundary in a "massive escape attempt."

The report also said the director of prisons was also wounded. Martinez rebutted the said account, though, saying, a group of prisoners demonstrated the uprising because of lack of access to food.

With the COVID-19 pandemic becoming more rampant, visits from family, friends, and loved ones who frequently bring medicine and food to inmates, have been considerably lessened.

Someone who knows someone inside the prison, Yessica Jimenez, told AFP that what is happening at present "is because of the guards." Jimenez added, the guards are not transferring the food which the families were brought to the inmates.

The detainees killed during the riot were verified, according to Carolina Giron from the OVP, "through the morgue." Giron also thanked the relatives "who recognized the dead in pictures shown to them through a computer."

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