VZCZCXRO0869
PP RUEHAG RUEHDF RUEHIK RUEHLZ RUEHROV
DE RUEHCV #0032 0051817
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 051817Z JAN 07
FM AMEMBASSY CARACAS
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 7425
INFO RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK PRIORITY 0694
RUMIAAA/HQ USSOUTHCOM MIAMI FL PRIORITY
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC PRIORITY
RUCNMEM/EU MEMBER STATES COLLECTIVE
RUEHWH/WESTERN HEMISPHERIC AFFAIRS DIPL POSTS

UNCLAS CARACAS 000032 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
HQSOUTHCOM ALSO FOR POLAD 
DEPT PASS TO AID/OTI RPORTER 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PHUM SOCI VE
SUBJECT: PRISON RIOT IN LARA STATE LEAVES 16 DEAD 
 
REF: CARACAS 25 
 
¶1.  (U)  At least sixteen prisoners were killed in a riot in 
the early hours of January 2 at the notoriously violent 
Uribana prison in Lara state.  Rival gangs within the prison 
engaged in brutal violence that left three major gang leaders 
among the dead, and over a dozen more inmates injured.  In 
some cases, bodies were reportedly mutilated to the point 
where they could not be recoQized.  Prison authorities were 
forced to call in the National Guard; the military commander 
for the region, Jose Enrique Maldonado Dupuy,  said the 
situation was under control and the next steps would include 
the reorganization of the entire prison and the transfer of 
implicated inmates to other prisons.  Maldonado called those 
responsible "extremely violent and merciless." 
 
¶2.  (U)  Heeding the words of Maldonado, over 40 prisoners 
deemed to be involved in the rioting were promptly 
transferred to four different prisons.  A half dozen of these 
prisoners, transferred to Guanare (Portuguesa state) did not 
even last 24 hours in their new homes before losing their 
lives to presumably retribution-related murders.  National 
press also reported five other prison riots broke out around 
the country on January 3, with unconfirmed rumors of 
additional deaths at a prison in Zulia state. 
 
¶3.  (U)  Prison violence is not uncommon in Venezuela and the 
Uribana prison is particularly notorious.  Sixty prisoners 
were killed in this facility in 2006.  The National Assembly 
declared in 2004 that the national penal system was in a 
state of emergency, a situation that has not improved.  In 
2005, over 400 prisoners were killed nationwide, with another 
700  injured.  The NGO Venezuelan Observatory of Prisons 
(OVP) reported 378 prisoner deaths in 2006 through November. 
Inmate-on-inmate violence is disturbingly high in Venezuela, 
although rioting of this magnitude is rare.  A January 1994 
riot at Sabaneta prison in Maracaibo saw over 100 inmates 
killed.  Inmates complaining about subpar prison conditions 
frequently engage in non-violent hunger strikes. 
 
¶4.  (U)  Ironically, the Uribana jail is considered the most 
modern in the country with the most technologically-advanced 
security mechanisms.  Humberto Prado, OVP's coordinator, 
lamented that even with the millions of dollars invested in 
Uribana, it has evolved into the most violent of the nation's 
prisons.  Prado called on authorities to establish a coherent 
and effective penal program.  Prado also pointed out that the 
Interamerican Commission on Human Rights has urged the 
Venezuelan government to take better control of its prisons 
and work to diminish prison violence.  2007 has not started 
well on that front. 
 
¶5.  (U)  In a major national announcement on January 3, 
President Chavez anointed former CNE director Jorge Rodriguez 
as his next Vice President and current National Deputy Pedro 
Carreno to succeed Jesse Chacon as Minister of Interior and 
Justice (reftel).  With regard to the dismissal of Chacon, 
Chavez did not offer specific reasons for his decision, but 
acknowledged that a general feeling of citizen insecurity and 
prison violence plagues the country.  He cited the Uribana 
prison riot and mentioned that while there is a solution in 
the works for the "penal drama," he admits it has proceeded 
at a slow pace. 
WHITAKER