(Asunción) Hundreds of inmates mutinied on Tuesday and took dozens of hostages in the overcrowded Tacumbu prison in Asunción, capital of Paraguay.
Paraguayan Justice Minister Angel Barchini said the government is “monitoring everything that is happening.” But he did not confirm press reports that the prison director, Adan Jesus Gonzalez, had been captured by the mutineers.
According to AFP journalists and images broadcast by television channels, many detainees took up positions on the roof of the main prison building, throwing stones at the police. Large flames were visible inside, caused by burning mattresses.
The mutineers took ten guards hostage, as well as around thirty women who came to visit their detained relatives, said police spokespersons on site.
Tacumbu prison, the largest in Paraguay, houses around 3,000 inmates, or 607% of its theoretical capacity, criminologist Juan Martens told AFP.
PHOTO NORBERTO DUARTE, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
“The prison is controlled by members of the Rotela Clan, an organization dedicated to drug trafficking in Asunción and its surroundings,” explained this researcher.
This violence comes after the announcement, last week by the Minister of Justice, of a plan “to regain power in the penitentiary centers”, where the Rotela Clan as well as the Brazilian gangs PCC (Primeiro Comando Capital) and Comando Vermelho reign supreme. Mr. Barchini had warned that this plan would “cost human lives”.
The Tacumbu mutineers have made it known that they will only end their movement if Mr. Barchini resigns.
Paraguay, a country of 6.5 million inhabitants, has around 16,000 prisoners spread across 18 prisons.