As many as 572 hostages in Venezuelan prison

Nine out of 581 people held hostages in Uribana prison, Lara state (west Venezuela), were released on Monday. The previous day, the inmates would not let visitors get out. Prisoners complain about procedural delay, denial of benefits and ill treatment.

There are still 572 hostages, most of them women.

The kidnapping was marked with shots in the air for 20 minutes on Sunday afternoon. Forthwith, prisoners declared that visitors would be held hostages. Since then, prisoners' relatives would stand at the entrance of the jail, waiting for some information. In the meantime, the National Guard kept on the alert without taking any action.

Uribana is among the six most violent jails in Venezuela. It has been granted protection measures by the Inter-America Court of Human Rights. The Court ordered the Venezuelan State to meet the protection requirements.

Since 2007, the IAHCR Court has granted a number of interim measures with regard to Uribana and required the State to "adopt in a final and immediate manner any interim measures that may be necessary and effective to prevent the loss of lives and damages to the physical, mental and moral integrity of all the inmates in that prison."

Translated by Conchita Delgado