By Bianile Rivas.
One month after the massacre at the Western Plains Penitentiary (know as Cepello), located in Guanare, Portuguesa state, injured survivors have no access to proper medical treatment for their wounds.
After the event, 47 murders recorded, and at least 67 people were seriously injured. The regime tried to erase the tragedy with the evacuation, and subsequent closure of the prison by the Ministry for the Penitentiary Service, which ordered the transfer of the 2,103 inmates to other prisons.
After the bloodshed, Minister Iris Varela visited the Miguel Oraa Hospital, where 30 survivors of this massacre are being held awaiting supplies, and medical equipment to make the surgical procedures, and other therapies ordered by the doctors. She made a promise to send what is needed, but the commitment has not been honored.
Two days after being admitted to the hospital, only those with stomach wounds, and who had lost limbs, or were at risk of losing them, underwent surgery. All the others -the majority of the inmates- no received surgery, and to this date, they have not been operated yet, revealed to El Pitazo one of the victims’ relatives, whose name omitted for security reasons.
You must read 47 inmates died in an alleged confrontation in a Venezuelan prison
According to the testimony, it was a week ago when the X-Ray diagnostics began to work. And on May, 28 they were taken out of the hospital again to have these tests done. Family members don´t know why the tests had to be repeated. They were taken to the Ipasme Social Security Institute because the Miguel Oraa does not have the service.
“Everything is going too slow,” regrets the source. For the minister’s offer to be possible, the hospital management must send the medical report of each case to Varela’s office.
“I fear those documents have not been referring to Caracas. That is my conclusion based on the fact that I see that they are still taking X-rays,” he warned.
No soap, no chlorine, no nurses
Even medical staff are worried about the slowness of the process “These boys are at risk of losing their lives: they lost a lot of blood, they only receive lunch from the hospital, the hygiene conditions are terrible, there are no workers to clean up, the same family members take care of that. There is no soap, no chlorine. So, they are at risk of any additional infection. Some already have salmonella,” revealed an internal medicine specialist attached to Miguel Oraa, with a request to protecting his name for fear of reprisals.
Another detail against the progress of hospitalized prisoners is the lack of nursing staff. “There are very few professionals working, so there are days when prisoners do not receive their treatment because there is no one to do it, and on other occasions, only those who can buy a syringe receive treatment because sometimes the hospital does not have enough supplies. Almost all of them are from far away, so those who don’t have family here, after so many days, are without money,” said another family member.
He said the hospital guaranteed antibiotic therapy, but that is not enough for this kind of tragedy. “The call is to Governor, Rafael Calles, and the Ministry of Health, to take care of these 30 survivors, whose human rights continue to be violated,” he said.
