Caracas Chronicles

Yesterday, at least 20 people, including one visiting relative, were killed in a grisly fight between rival gangs at Yare Jail, former Zip-code of a comandante presidente who shall not be named.

The shootout comes three months after the huge fight between the National Guard and the inmates in La Planta jail that ended with hundreds of La Planta inmates transfered to Yare – according to some reports, still armed. Back in May, Yare inmates’ relatives were already saying they feared for what this mixing of jail gangs could mean for the delicate balance of Pran hierarchies, with words we shouldn’t forget now,

“Tenemos entendido que en Yare metieron a 500 presos y luego de lo que pasó en diciembre, que se juntaron Yare 1 y Yare 2, pase lo mismo, y al juntarse la nueva población con la que ya existe, vengan nuevos pranes que los pongan a ‘trillar’ (bautizo que consiste en convertir a los compañeros en esclavos) y al romperse el orden que ya está, vienen peleas y hechos lamentables que no queremos. Estamos asustados, porque nuestros familiares allá adentro también lo están”, contó una fuente que no quiso revelar su identidad.

And so, some questions that this government will not seriously demand answers to, but the next government must look into in detail:

1. Did La Planta inmates really get to bring their guns into Yare?
2. Were any of those inmates/guns involved in yesterday’s massacre?
3. Shouldn’t the minister who okayed the weapons transfer face criminal responsibility for this?

We didn’t set out to make it Prisons Monday in Caracas Chronicles, but man…