Page 11 - ARUBA TODAY

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WORLD NEWS Tuesday 3 January 2017

At least 60 inmates killed in

prison riot in northern Brazil

MAURICIO SAVARESE bodies, the blood,” Valois has been trying to extend
Associated Press wrote on Facebook. its reach to northern prisons
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — It was the largest death toll dominated by the Family
At least 60 inmates died during a Brazilian prison riot of the North. To counter,
during a prison riot in the since the killing of 111 in- Family of the North associ-
northern state of Amazo- mates by police officers in ated with the Red Com-
nas, including several who the Carandiru penitentiary mando of Rio de Janeiro,
were beheaded or dis- in Sao Paulo in 1992. Police the second biggest crime
membered, in the biggest said they acted in self-de- gang in Brazil.
killing at a Brazilian prison fense then. Valois said that during the
since 1992. Two other prisons in Manaus negotiations, inmates only
Authorities said the riot ap- also reported riots on Mon- asked “that we did not
parently grew out of a fight day. In one of them 87 pris- transfer them, made sure
between two of the coun- oners escaped, they were not attacked
try’s biggest crime gangs including one that posted and kept their visitation.”
over control of prisons and a picture of him on Face- The riot ended after the
drug routs in northern Brazil. book as he left. Amazonas inmates freed the last of
Amazonas state public se- police are investigating the 12 prison staffers they The wife of a prisoner who was killed in a riot cries outside Anisio
curity secretary Sergio Fon- whether there is a link be- had held hostage, Valois Jobim Penitentiary Complex in Manaus, Brazil, Monday, Jan. 2,
tes said that in addition to tween the incidents in the said.q 2017. Associated Press
the deaths, some inmates three prisons.
escaped from the Anisio By the end of Monday af-
Jobim Penitentiary Com- ternoon Amazonas state
plex in Manaus, but he police said the situation
did not say how many. He had become stable in all
added that 40 had been three prisons.
recaptured. Brazilian daily Estado de
Twelve prison guards were S.Paulo later reported that
held hostage by the in- federal police were inves-
mates, though none was tigating whether Valois has
wounded during the riot links to one of the gangs in-
that began Sunday after- volved in the incident.
noon and ended Monday Fontes said the inmates
morning. made few demands to
“This is the biggest prison end the riot, which hints at
massacre in our state’s his- a killing spree organized by
tory,” Fontes said during a members of a local gang,
press conference. “What the Family of the North,
happened here is another against those of the First
chapter of the war that Command of the Capital
narcos are waging on this that is based in Sao Paulo.
country and it shows that The secretary said that offi-
this problem cannot be cers found a hole in a prison
tackled only by state gov- wall through which weap-
ernments.” ons entered the building. A
Fontes confirmed that policeman was wounded
many of the dead had in exchange of fire with the
been beheaded and inmates.
Judge Luis Carlos Valois, Several firearms were found
who negotiated the end of in the post-riot search by
the riot with inmates, said police.
he saw many bodies that The First Command, nation-
were quartered. ally known as PCC, is the
“I never saw anything like most powerful drug and
that in my life. All those prison gang in Brazil and it