By Bianile Rivas.
The Minister of Penitentiary Affairs, Iris Varela, awarded early release measures to six inmates who witnessed and survived the Cepello prison May 1 massacre, in which 47 prisoners killed and another 75 injured.
The six survivors were part of a group of 30 wounded inmates in the May 1 massacre, treated at the Miguel Oraa Hospital in Guanare. Prisoners who survived the massacre were mobilizing to other prisons out of the state. Cepello is now closed.
The government said the negative leader (Pran in Spanish, which means jailhouse boss) was responsible for the escape attempt that resulted in the massacre.
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Varela signed the early releases in Guanare, June 12. The families of the injured prisoners demanded a review and warned that to date, the surgical operations promised by the minister has not completed. “Only three of the 30 patients have been operating…t hey had bullet holes in their digestive tracts, and urgent amputation of limbs,” they explained.
One of the six men released had a leg amputated, another one had an open femur fracture, and the third one had the ankle broken, as a result of the May 1 event.
In May, Cepello was evacuated, and the remaining 2,103 prisoners transferred to other prisons in the country. Varela said prisoners return to Cepello when be reopened
