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FROM
CUBA
Second riot at prison in 12 days
HAVANA, Cuba, April 8 (María Elena
Alpízar Ariosa, Grupo Decoro / www.cubanet.org)
- A second riot broke out at the Combinado
del Este prison in Havana April 5, barely
12 days after another riot at the same facility.
The disturbance left more than 30 inmates
wounded and lasted three and a half hours,
before prison authorities and higher ups,
including the Interior Minister, Abelardo
Colomé Ibarra, defused the situation
and freed the hostages.
Reportedly the riot started when a number
of inmates in building 3, north wing, first
floor mutinied to protest their ordered
transfer to other prisons and authorities'
refusal to grant them benefits to which
they felt entitled.
The rioters took other inmates hostage
and locked them in the dining hall, which
they set on fire.
Prison guards had to break through the
external walls to open holes through which
to evacuate the hostages. Some of the hostages
suffered burns, knife wounds, or both. They
were taken to the Naval Hospital, to the
Carlos J. Finlay military hospital, or to
the National Inmates Hospital, inside the
prison grounds.
The unrest ended at about 9:30 p.m. after
the Interior Minister and other high officials
talked to the inmates, who were then taken
to the headquarters for the Department of
State Security or that of the Technical
Investigations Division of the police.
Versión
original en español
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