Prisoners in Venezuela seized a pre-trial detention center in protest against the new leadership

Prisoners at the pre-trial detention center in Barinas, Venezuela, took control of the facility, protesting against the new director, Elvis Macuare Guerrero. This was announced on May 24 by the press service of the Venezuelan Observatory of Prisons.

"The prisoners reported <...> that Elvis Macuare Guerrero was appointed director of INJUBA a week ago, and since then they have allegedly been subjected to brutal searches, during which their personal belongings in the cells are destroyed," reads a post on the social network X (former. Twitter).

It is specified that more than 120 prisoners are in solitary cells, and the director is shooting at prison towers. The guards used tear gas against the women in the detention center annex, more than 100 of them were suffocating, the rest of the prisoners helped them recover.

Dozens of prisoners climbed onto the roof of the prison in protest. According to the organization, riots continue in the detention center.

Rights at home: those convicted of extremism will be banned from being transferred closer to their families

The tightening will also apply to foreigners and stateless persons.

The Argentine newspaper Infobae reported on January 17 that in Guatemala, prisoners from three prisons rioted and took 47 people hostage. The Guatemalan government blames the Barrio 18 gang ("District 18"), which the authorities call a terrorist organization, for the riot. According to Interior Minister Marco Antonio Villeda, the group's members "seek to restore their privileges in prisons."