Large columns of smoke from burning mattresses and sheets rose from the Barinas prison as inmates gathered on the roof, chanting, 'No more torture!' The protest on Sunday involved prisoners piling flaming mattresses and calling for the removal of the facility's director, whom they accused of overseeing guards as they shot unarmed inmates.
Injuries and Demands
'We want justice. They are shooting us, the guards and the wardens,' a prisoner said in a video shared by the Venezuelan Observatory of Prisons, a local NGO, on X. The footage showed a man with a bullet wound in his chest. Inmates claimed they were peacefully protesting when prison staff opened fire, leaving some wounded.
Venezuelan authorities did not immediately respond to requests for comment from the Reuters news agency. Prisoners also hung 'SOS' banners and called for the director's removal in videos, stating their clothes had been taken away and visits had been banned.
Family Members Clash with Guards
Outside the prison, relatives of inmates clashed with National Guard officers armed with riot shields as they attempted to enter the facility. They told the Venezuelan Observatory of Prisons they heard screams and explosions minutes later. Yelitza Arrollo told the AFP news agency she has not heard from her son since 8 May. 'They are suffering,' she said. 'We want the director removed.'
The Venezuelan Observatory of Prisons said it was documenting the events and reporting them to human rights watchdogs. About 1,200 men and more than 100 women incarcerated at the prison had joined the strike.
Venezuelan prisons have come under international scrutiny after the government of interim president Delcy Rodriguez passed a law to release hundreds of political prisoners. In January, the US attacked Caracas and captured then-president Nicolas Maduro.
