This morning five thousand National Guardsmen were sent into the El Rodeo jail to restore the law and order that the Government failed to impose over the last few years and as of a few minutes ago, only 45% of the prison (there are 4,000 prisoners in it) was under the control of the guard. Meanwhile, the take over became a battle if not a war, as the prisoners families have refused to leave the surrounding areas and as they were dispersed with tear gas, they began fighting back, as shown in the picture above.
There are now reports of both a fire inside the jail, as well as protests in other jails in solidarity with the events of El Rodeo.
Not a pretty picture, as the problem seems to be quite serious and the relatives report that the National Guard is killing prisoners, while the Government says there have been no new deaths today, only eight injured National Guardsmen.
Hopefully, there is no additional deaths but the problem seems far from contained at this time.
I was sent a picture supposedly taken by a prisoner inside the jail, but I decided to remove it, more pictures here.
This is a video a month ago of the prisoners and their weapons in El Rodeo.
The Devil's Excrement 
June 18, 2011 at 4:15 pm
And so, the cycle continues of cronyism, incompetence, disaster, and coverup.
June 18, 2011 at 3:48 pm
[…] a jail predicament descends into chaos in Venezuela and a nation starts buying electricity from Colombia, Hugo Chavez is still in Cuba, […]
June 18, 2011 at 1:48 pm
Talk to a public defender who has to spend several hours a week in one of those jails to visit his “clients” and he will confirm the National Guard is making a juicy business selling weapons to inmates and letting visitors pass drugs through. The same GN who is now coming to maintain order at El Rodeo. Weil had a superb cartoon in Tal Cual yesterday to sum up the situation. The fellow is brilliant.
June 18, 2011 at 11:04 am
Driving up from the coast this morning I was surprised to see many teams of soldiers doing all kinds of maintenance work, apparently sparing no effort to beautify the route from the airport to Caracas.
Since this is rather unusual, I wonder if a heroe’s welcome is not in the offing for our fearless leader …
June 18, 2011 at 10:53 am
I have noticed a couple of things watching press conferences yesterday and today on channel 8 (choking back the vomit, of course), first is how similar the 3 National Guard generals’ speeches were, which included abundant praise for Hugo Chávez and his humanistic government and heartily bashing the miserable undeserving traitors that are the opposition.
Second, the Chavista officials studiously avoid talking too much about the possible sources of weapons like AR15 or FAL assault rifles exhibited, which family members of prisoners would find it very, very difficult to smuggle in, leaving only the National Guard itself as the source of weapons and ammunition.
In any case, it is hard to separate the truth from the lies in this attempt at government by this cand of incompetent crooks.
June 18, 2011 at 9:17 am
[…] the prison crisis descends into chaos in Venezuela and the country starts buying electricity from Colombia, Hugo Chavez is still in Cuba, […]
June 18, 2011 at 9:16 am
Horrible to say the least. Here is an excellent article from 2006 by Ibsen Martínez on the problems of prision riots and killings in Latin America. http://ibsenmartinez.com/archives/415
June 18, 2011 at 7:06 am
“… La mejor decisión gubernamental para ayudar a resolver la crisis penitenciaria del país pasa por sacar a la GNB de los centros penales (…), porque las armas no caen del cielo cuando llueve, sino porque hay un mecanismo bien perverso de tráfico de armas…”
…Criticó Humberto Prado, presidente de la ONG Observatorio Venezolano de Prisiones, en declaraciones a periodistas tras los violentos sucesos en El Rodeo I y II…
Why nobody is listening to this guy? I have seen/heard some of his interviews in TV and radio and he makes a lot of sense. Any comments? maybe I am missing something
June 17, 2011 at 11:50 pm
Que lastima. This underscores just how bad the Hugo show can get. Shocking incompetence, a total collapse of infrastructure, appointments to positions based on cronyism not education, fundamental rotteness and profligate lying – these are what has resulted in the anarchy and chaos we see here for there is no structure, no container, just disorder and misery.
Here is proof that it takes more than a flair for populist PR and macho posturing to run a country in the 21st century. Here, and across the board, Hugo and co. are proving to the world that they really and truly have no idea what the hell they are doing.
Sadly, an escalation of difficulties might only lead us toward the tragic events we’re seeing in Syria and Lybia. And if what we read is true, the the National Guradsmen are gunning convicts down (seems doubtful), we are already there.
Juancho
June 17, 2011 at 6:30 pm
Think of any movie with a prison theme or set in a prison. Any one. Even one set in a South American prison. What is happening right now and has happened recently in Venezuelan prisons right now beats it hands down.
To say that this government has failed in preventing the hellish situation (cannot call it a problem) from worsening is beyond understatement. Government power as any sane person understand it, inside jails is nonexistent.
As for life outside jails… In the first world, authors invent vampires and aggrandize serial killers. We Venezuelans have guys running around with more deaths to their name than most serial killers. Why do we bother going to the movies? For the variety? For the fantasy part? We HAVE real reasons to be home before dark with doors and windows barred. Can’t count on garlic, holy water, crucifixes, or even respite from the dawn. Or on the government.
June 17, 2011 at 5:13 pm
Have you seen this one already?
“President, where is the love that you so much proclaim?”
June 17, 2011 at 4:22 pm
Verga…esas venezolanas son jodidas…
June 17, 2011 at 2:26 pm
[…] the way the Chávez administration has handled the country's prison problem, and today updates his blog with the latest news coming from the prison: “This morning five thousand National Guardsmen […]