Guanare Prison Massacre: Prison Director and 5 Officials Indicted
On the morning of this Wednesday, May 13, the attorney general, Tarek William Saab, offered details on the charges for the incident that occurred in the Llanos Penitentiary Center (Cepella), located in Guanare, Portuguese state, that happened at beginning of May.
These events left the unfortunate balance of 47 detainees deceased and 69 injured. The attorney general announced, through a public TV broadcast on Venezolana de TelevisiĂłn (VTV), that the prison director, 5 officials and 4 inmates have been charged.
RELATED CONTENT: 3 More Mercenaries Captured in Carayaca and La Colonia Tovar (Operation Gideon)
It all started when the negative leader, alias “Olivo”, started protesting “alleged irregularities during visits”. Due to the lack of attention to his claim, the inmates broke through a fence and attacked the prison director. These events led to a confrontation with police officers, who repressed the [outburst] with unnecessary violence and serious violations of human rights. Saab explained that alias “Olivo” started the protest in retaliation for the arrest of a person who served as his personal assistant outside the prison.
Instead of using tear gas to disperse the inmates during a protest at Los Llanos Penitentiary Center, members of the National Guard, which oversees prison security, “unfortunately, for containment, used firearms,” Saab said.
Prison director Carlos Graterol will be charged as an accomplice for “introducing firearms into penitentiary centers” Saab said. The five soldiers will be charged with intentional homicide and intentional homicide “in a degree of frustration” as well as “abuse of power.”
Saab added: “Eight of them received a legal medical postmortem examination, technical inspections were carried out, projectiles were collected and a planimetric analysis of the site of the event was carried out,” and the attackers were thus identified.
The accused officials are: first lieutenant Alberto Castro Malagueta, first sergeant JesĂşs Manuel Torres Parada, third sergeant major Johangel SimĂłn RodrĂguez Escalona , first sergeant Jorge David Almeida Gudiño and first sergeant Francisco JosĂ© RodrĂguez GarcĂa.
Saab explained that “these officials are being charged before the competent court, they will be charged with intentional homicide, in a degree of corresponding complicity, intentional homicide in a degree of frustration – on those who were injured – and abuse of power . ”
Featured image: Health workers and members of the Bolivarian National Police await the arrival of prisoners outside the Dr. Miguel Oraá hospital in Guanare, Venezuela, May 1, 2020. REUTERS / Manuel Alvarado
Source URL: La IguanaTV with OT content
Translated and edited by JRE/EF
