ASUNCION, Oct 12 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Inmates at Paraguay’s largest prison rioted on Tuesday, taking guards hostage and setting fire to facilities in the crowded Tacumbu penitentiary on the outskirts of the capital.
Two hostages were later released as government and military forces responded to the revolt, according to Interior Minister Enrique Riera. He said two police officers were injured in the clashes.
Luis Esquivel, warden of Paraguay’s Tacumbú Prison, spoke early Wednesday from inside the penitentiary where inmates are holding him hostage together with 22 guards and said an answer from the Justice Ministry of Justice was needed for the situation to stop.
“I am the spokesman for my colleagues and we need a solution, it has been more than 12 hours and we want to get out”, said Esquivel, who also pointed out that he and the other jailers were in good health.
“They demand the reopening of the penitentiary, the non-retaliation, the non-entry of the public forces”, he pointed out. “They are going to release us only with the fulfillment of those three points,” the warden remarked. “They are waiting for a written document in order to have guarantees,” he also explained.
Violence broke out in the afternoon when detonations of fireworks could be heard and a column of smoke emerged. The inmates reportedly blame Justice Minister Angel Barchini for the current crisis within the penitentiary system amid reports that non-commissioned officer Oliver Lezcano had escaped, while other versions said he had been murdered by members of the Rotela clan.
The rioting inmates have been reported to have video footage proving Lezcano escaped.
Tacumbu houses nearly 4,000 inmates in a ramshackle, tin-roof building and, according to local security experts, gangs exert near-total influence over life inside.
Police braced behind riot shields while the entrance to the prison was in flames, though authorities said later that firefighters had brought the blaze under control.
Meanwhile, prisoners’ families gathered outside as they awaited news on their loved ones.
Interior Minister Riera said Paraguay would push for prison reform once the riot was quelled. — NNN-AGENCIES
