Category Archives: Prisons

Jail House Night-Club, cont.

Posted on March 27, 2013 by

Looks like the El Rodeo I’s month-old nightclub won’t the only one up and running in the Venezuelan prison system. According to El Nacional’s crime reporter Thabata Molina, this Good Thrusday will be the brand new opening of a night-club … Continue reading →

Posted in In Other News, Prisons | Tagged , , | 12 Comments

Jail House Night-Club

Posted on March 24, 2013 by

Remember that nightclub in Tocorón Prison from last year? Well, it now has serious competition from a brand new place inside El Rodeo I in Guatire, just outside Caracas. It opened last month with a huge party including giant screens, a … Continue reading →

Posted in In Other News, Prisons | 32 Comments

Excess baggage

Posted on February 26, 2013 by

Just when you think you have heard everything about the Venezuelan prison system, Ultimas Noticias nos trae esta perlita… A young woman was leaving Yare II Prison last Sunday afternoon after finishing her visit and she was carrying a heavy … Continue reading →

Posted in Human Rights, Prisons, Society | 10 Comments

Heckuvajob, Iris!

Posted on February 18, 2013 by

Prisons Minister Iris Varela admitted in an interview with Últimas Noticias that their staff have access to only seven of the thirty prisons active in Venezuela today. She also blamed last month’s events in Uribana to possible score-setting between “negative … Continue reading →

Posted in Human Rights, In Other News, Prisons, Society | 8 Comments

Bellum pranes contra omnes

Posted on February 13, 2013 by

Sometimes the power of the pranes, the defacto rulers of Venezuelan prisons, is not confined to the walls of the jails. They want to impose their will outside and they’re not afraid of using violence to prove it. One businessman … Continue reading →

Posted in Human Rights, Prisons, Society, Violence | 5 Comments

The PGV is just one small glimpse of hell

Posted on February 6, 2013 by

The Guardian’s Virginia Lopez offers a inside look into the General Penitentiary of Venezuela (the PGV), located in Guárico State. While she’s not the first journalist to go inside this prison, she offers a hair-raising report. The PGV is dubbed … Continue reading →

Posted in Human Rights, Prisons, Society | 8 Comments

Games people play

Posted on January 30, 2013 by

When the final chapter in chavismo is written (and I’m one of the few that think this will happen sooner than most think) one of its most glaring mistakes will be how they sacrificed governance for politics. We elect governments, … Continue reading →

Posted in Human Rights, Politics, Prisons, The Media | 23 Comments

Uribana is closed, but the crisis isn’t over

Posted on January 29, 2013 by

After officially acknowledging the death of 58 people in the violent events of January 25th, Prisons Minister Iris Varela ordered the transfer of Uribana Prison’s remaining inmates to other jails. Most of them are now ensconced in Yaracuy State Prison … Continue reading →

Posted in Human Rights, Prisons, Society, Violence | 9 Comments

A hard day at Uribana (Updated)

Posted on January 25, 2013 by

Today, personnel of the Prisons Ministry along with soldiers of the National Guard tried to inspect Uribana Prison (located outside Barquisimeto) for illegal materials. The procedure was supposed to be low-profile in nature. But a local journalist found out, thanks … Continue reading →

Posted in In Other News, Prisons, Society, Violence | 27 Comments

Life imitates “Cárcel o Infierno”

Posted on January 3, 2013 by

Just as a friendly reminder that, outside the Chávez Deathwatch bubble, life in Venezuela remains just as fucked up as it ever was, consider this: the pran (read: prison gang leader in charge of day-to-day running of the jail) at Yare … Continue reading →

Posted in Prisons | 14 Comments

Lovely Revolution of Love

Posted on December 13, 2012 by

CNN highlights what the Revolution is all about.

Posted in Human Rights, Prisons | 8 Comments

Great reading for the day

Posted on November 28, 2012 by

Don’t miss this reportage by the supremely talented Maye Primera (in Spanish), an excerpt of an upcoming book, courtesy of Prodavinci. It’s about the deaths in the Retén de Catia twenty years ago. It’s sad to see that impunity lives … Continue reading →

Posted in Human Rights, Politics, Prisons | 2 Comments

Accomplices Galore

Posted on November 24, 2012 by

I’m with Juan here. It’s not as if Judge Afiuni’s rape and torture story is some kind of freak exception. The dire, dire human rights situation inside Venezuelan jails has been public knowledge for years. Venezuelan human rights bodies have … Continue reading →

Posted in Human Rights, Prisons | 64 Comments

8,191,132 rapists

Posted on November 23, 2012 by

Yesterday we learned that Judge Maria Lourdes Afiuni, Hugo Chávez’s most visible political prisoner, was tortured and raped while in jail. She bravely told her story in a book by Venezuelan journalist Francisco Olivares. The situation at the INOF women’s … Continue reading →

Posted in Human Rights, Prisons, Violence, Women | 71 Comments

Anything goes in order to win

Posted on November 8, 2012 by

The original talanquera-jumper Francisco Arias Cárdenas faces an uphill battle to win the Zulia State Governorship, even if the comandante presidente won last month in Maracuchistan and he’s keeps giving away houses as the Chavernment’s parallel governor. But the first opinion … Continue reading →

Posted in Human Rights, Politics, Prisons | 4 Comments