e)
The armed confrontation was among the prisoners themselves, settling
accounts and fighting for the internal control of the establishment;
f)
On January 27, 2013, the national authorities with competence in prison
matters had proved that the State’s security forces had never entered the
establishment and that the Bolivarian National Guard were unarmed, carrying only
anti-riot shields and gas masks;
g)
When the exchange of shots finally ended and the prison population had
calmed down, members of the Custodial Rapid Response Group (GRIC) of the
Ministry of People’s Power for the Prison Service, accompanied by the Bolivarian
National Guard, had re-taken total control of the prison, immediately evacuating
the prisoners who had been injured to transfer them to a hospital to receive
prompt and adequate medical attention, and also evacuating the deceased victims
who had been shot or killed by sharp instruments;
h)
The official figures are 58 persons deceased and 95 injured, of whom 49
were discharged from the hospital within 48 hours of the incident;
i)
The State had covered the total burial expenses of all those who died;
j)
The decision had been taken to evacuate most of the prison population
interned in the Penitentiary Center of the Central Occidental Region and 2,003
men and women deprived of liberty were transferred to other prisons throughout
the country, including the Yaracuy Judicial Detention Center, the Trujillo Judicial
Detention Center, the Aragua Penitentiary Center, the Penitentiary Center of the
Llanos Occidentales, the Coro Penitentiary Community, the General Penitentiary of
Venezuela, the Maracaibo National Prison, the Barinas Judicial Detention Center,
the Occidente Penitentiary Center, the Rodeo I, the Barcelona Judicial Detention
Center, INOF, the Occidente Penitentiary Center (for women), the Carabobo
Penitentiary Center, the Tocuyito Judicial Detention Center, the Nueva Esparta
Judicial Detention Center, and the Cumana Judicial Detention Center;
k)
The inspection procedure was conducted after those deprived of liberty had
been removed from the Penitentiary Center of the Central Occidental Region and
not before the acts of violence;
l)
According to a newspaper article that was provided, a considerable amount
of weapons and ammunition that were found on the prison premises had been
seized; this consisted of 106 guns, 27 revolvers, 5 shotguns, 62 pistols, 4 submachineguns, 8 assault rifles, 4 guns made by the prisoners, 15 grenades, 1 rifle,
108 pistol magazines, 24 rifle magazines, 1 pistol clip, 8,568 pieces of
ammunition of different calibers, 258 spiked sticks, and 22 knives, and
m)
In August 2012, a total of 2,456 persons were deprived of liberty in the
Uribana Prison.
7.
First, it is pertinent to recall that Venezuela is in a special position as guarantor of
the life and personal integrity of the persons deprived of liberty in the Penitentiary Center
of the Central Occidental Region, as well as in the country’s other prisons. Consequently,
the State has the obligation to take the necessary measures to protect and ensure the
right to life and to personal integrity of those deprived of liberty and to abstain, in any
circumstances, from acting in a way that leads to a violation of their life and integrity.
Thus, the obligations that the State, as guarantor, is bound to assume include the
adoption of measures that help maintain a climate of respect for human rights among the
persons deprived of liberty, avoid the presence of weapons within the establishments in
the hands of the inmates, reduce overcrowding, establish the minimum detention
conditions compatible with their dignity, and provide sufficient trained staff to ensure an
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