On March 28, 2018, a fire broke out during a

prison riot A prison riot is an act of concerted defiance or disorder by a group of prisoners against the prison administrators, prison officers, or other groups of prisoners. Prison riots have not been the subject of many academic studies or research inqui ...

in the cells at the Carabobo state police headquarters in

Valencia, Carabobo Valencia () is the capital city of Carabobo State and the third-largest city in Venezuela. The city is an economic hub that contains Venezuela's top industries and manufacturing companies. It is also the largest city in the Valencia-Maracay m ...

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in ...

. The fire killed at least 68 people and injured scores of others. The fire is one of the deadliest incidents ever in a Venezuelan prison since the

1994 Sabaneta prison fire File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which sank in the Baltic Sea; Nelson Ma ...

, in which more than 100 inmates died. Four prosecutors have been named to investigate the circumstances preceding the victims' deaths. The

U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, commonly known as the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) or the United Nations Human Rights Office, is a department of the Secretariat of the United Nati ...

requested an investigation and

reparations Reparation(s) may refer to: Christianity * Restitution (theology), the Christian doctrine calling for reparation * Acts of reparation, prayers for repairing the damages of sin History * War reparations ** World War I reparations, made from ...

for the families of the fire victims.

Background

Violence and overcrowding are problems in Venezuela's prison system. The Observatorio Venezolano de Prisiones (

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national id ...

: ''Venezuelan Observatory of Prisons'') estimates that 6,663 prisoners have died between 1999 and 2015, with average overcrowding at over 200%. More than 60 prisoners died in the

2013 Uribana prison riot On 25 January 2013, a riot began at Uribana prison in Barquisimeto, Venezuela. Initial reports gave at least 50 people killed and over 120 people injured, and by 27 January a death toll of 61 was reported. Officials on the first day of the riot ...

. The organization

Human Rights Watch Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization, headquartered in New York City, that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. The group pressures governments, policy makers, companies, and individual human ...

states that because of poor training and insufficient numbers of guards, corruption and deterioration of infrastructure, armed gangs have seized control of inmate populations.

Fire

The fire began in the jail attached to the police station in Valencia, a city located about west of Venezuela's capital city,

Caracas Caracas (, ), officially Santiago de León de Caracas, abbreviated as CCS, is the capital and largest city of Venezuela, and the center of the Metropolitan Region of Caracas (or Greater Caracas). Caracas is located along the Guaire River in the ...

. The jail was built to contain only 60 prisoners, but when the fire broke out, it housed about 200. The fire reportedly began when, during a riot, prisoners in the jail inside the police station lit their mattresses on fire in an attempt to escape. Later reports stated that the fire began during a party thrown by the inmates. Gunfire was also reportedly heard during the riot that preceded the fire. However, the circumstances surrounding the fire have yet to be officially confirmed, and local officials initially only confirmed that some people had died in the fire. Later on the day of the fire,

Tarek William Saab Tarek William Saab Halabi (, ar, طارق وليام صعب حلبي; born 10 September 1962) is a Venezuelan politician, lawyer and poet. He is a leader of the Fifth Republic Movement (MVR) party founded by Hugo Chávez, President of Venezuela ...

, Venezuela's lead prosecutor, stated that the death toll was 68, which included two women, most likely visitors; and Saab stated that an investigation would be started to “clarify” the incident.

Aftermath

On the same day of the fire, relatives of the dead prisoners gathered at the police station where the fire occurred, but were dispersed by police using

tear gas Tear gas, also known as a lachrymator agent or lachrymator (), sometimes colloquially known as "mace" after the early commercial aerosol, is a chemical weapon that stimulates the nerves of the lacrimal gland in the eye to produce tears. In ...

. The gas was used after the protesters attempted to push their way into the station and detention center in question, the Carabobo state police headquarters, with one officer being injured by a stone. The governor of Carabobo, Rafael Lacava, stated his "consternation" over the events, and the human rights body of the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmonizi ...

called for an investigation. In a released statement, the

also requested

for the victims' families. Political opponents of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro have seized on the fire as evidence that Venezuelan society has declined under Maduro's leadership. Venezuelan opposition leader

Henrique Capriles Henrique Capriles Radonski (; born 11 July 1972) is a Venezuelan politician and lawyer, who served as the 36th Governor of Miranda from 2008 to 2017. Born in Caracas, he received a degree in law from the Universidad Católica Andrés Bello, ...

tweeted "How many more times are we going to see the same Dantesque scenes with the prisoners of the country?" Many of the dead prisoners were buried side by side, and three deep, in a

mass grave A mass grave is a grave containing multiple human corpses, which may or may Unidentified decedent, not be identified prior to burial. The United Nations has defined a criminal mass grave as a burial site containing three or more victims of executi ...

separated by

cinder blocks A concrete masonry unit (CMU) is a standard-size rectangular block used in building construction. CMUs are some of the most versatile building products available because of the wide variety of appearances that can be achieved using them. Tho ...

and marked by crosses.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Valencia, Venezuela fire 2010s fires in South America 2018 fires 2018 in Venezuela Fires in Venezuela March 2018 events in South America Valencia, Venezuela Prison uprisings in Venezuela Prison fires 2018 disasters in Venezuela

Background

Fire

Aftermath

See also

References