Deadly prison breakout in Mexico

16 July 2011 Last updated at 02:09 GMT More than 400 inmates have escaped from jails in northern Mexico since January 2010 Seven prisoners have been killed and 59 others have escaped after a riot at a jail in northern Mexico near the US border, officials say.

Five guards are also missing and are believed to have aided the mass prison breakout in Nuevo Laredo town.

Mexican police say the majority of those on the run are drug traffickers and members of armed gangs.

The prison system is struggling to cope with an influx of offenders arrested in a campaign against drugs cartels.

Correspondents say prison breakouts are not uncommon in northern Mexico, where more than 400 inmates have escaped since January 2010.

Nuevo Laredo, in Tamaulipas state, lies just across the border from Laredo, Texas.

The largest jail break so far was last December when more than 140 prisoners escaped from the same prison.

According to a statement from the Tamaulipas state government, the riot began on Friday morning in Nuevo Laredo's Sanctions Enforcement Centre, which houses an estimated 1,200 prisoners.

After the breakout, soldiers surrounded the jail and calm was restored, the authorities said.

The northern border region is the scene of rising lawlessness as the cartels fight the security forces and each other for control of smuggling routes into the US.

The main battle in Tamaulipas is between the Zetas and the Gulf cartels, the AFP news agency reports.

Their capacity for violence and ability to pay huge bribes gives them considerable power to subvert the prison system and get their people out.

President Felipe Calderon came to power in 2006 promising a war on drugs.

More than 35,000 people have died in drug violence since he began his campaign, which has involved launching an army assault on drug gangs.

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Venezuelan prison stand-off ends

14 July 2011 Last updated at 06:52 GMT Troops controlled areas outside the El Rodeo prison in Venezuela for nearly a month Police in Venezuela have regained control of a prison east of the capital, Caracas, after a stand-off that lasted for 27 days.

More than 800 prisoners left the El Rodeo prison, after some 60 armed prisoners surrendered, officials said.

Authorities said that four inmates were shot dead by National Guard troops as they tried to escape.

The stand-off began after troops stormed the prison to put an end to violent clashes between rival groups.

More than 25 people died in the mid-June clashes and in subsequent attempts to regain full control of the prison, in the town of Guatire.

Venezuelan troops eventually took over a part of the jail known as El Rodeo 1.

But hundreds of other prisoners remained holed up in the other wing, El Rodeo 2.

The authorities said about 60 inmates there were using guns to exert control over fellow prisoners.

Nearly a month after the first riots, the Venezuelan Interior and Justice Minister, Tareck El Aissami, said some of the armed leaders had agreed to surrender.

He said the inmates had been given guarantees that their human rights would be respected.

"We've managed for all of them to come down to the yards," Mr El Aissami said. "We celebrate the triumph of peace, dialogue."

Relatives camped outside the prison, in the town of Guatire, throughout the crisis

A spokesperson for prisoners' relatives, Grisel Zorrilla, told the Associated Press news agency that the inmates showed signs of dehydration but were generally in good health.

Hundreds of families remained outside the prison waiting for the latest information on the health and the likely destination of their family members.

The government said that the 831 inmates evacuated from El Rodeo were being sent to two other jails, Yare 2 and Tocuyito.

Venezuelan prisons are notoriously overcrowded and there has been a series of riots since the beginning of the year.

The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights says nearly 500 people died in prison violence last year.

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Venezuela prison siege continues

21 June 2011 Last updated at 12:35 GMT Families are desperate for any information about the situation inside the jail Venezuelan troops have escorted 36 prisoners out of a jail near Caracas where armed inmates are resisting the army's attempts to retake control.

A National Guard spokesman said the men had been "hostages of violent prisoners".

There have been gunfights since Friday between some 5,000 members of the security forces and inmates holed up in a wing of El Rodeo prison.

Some 2,500 prisoners have been moved from the complex to other jails.

Last Friday, troops took over most of El Rodeo jail in Guatire, after a riot between rival gangs of prisoners on 12 June left some 20 people dead.

But a stand-off continues in one section of prison.

'Weapons of war'

On Monday, troops managed to free 36 men from areas no longer held by rebellious prisoners, Interior Minister Tareck El Aissami told state television.

Mr Aissami has said that one prisoner and two National Guard troops have been killed during the clashes.

An inmate reached by mobile telephone told the Associated Press that there had been 17 deaths.

Troops were using what he called "weapons of war" against them, prisoner Rafael Contreras said.

Hundreds of relatives are outside the jail, anxious for news.

Authorities say a group of what they call "hostile" inmates are using their weapons to control some 1,000 prisoners in one section of the prison.

Venezuela's overcrowded prisons see frequent riots between rival gangs.

The prison system, built to hold about 14,500 inmates, is currently estimated to house some 46,000 prisoners, according to the Venezuelan Prisons Observatory, which monitors prison conditions.

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Venezuela prison riot kills 19

14 June 2011 Last updated at 18:31 GMT Inmates' relatives anxiously awaited news after the prison riot at Rodeo I prison Some 19 people have died and many more have been hurt in a prison riot in Venezuela, officials say.

Two rival gangs had confronted each other in El Rodeo I prison near the capital Caracas on Sunday, said Interior Minister Tareck El Aissami.

The situation has since calmed down, local media reports say, but 150 people remain in front of the jail awaiting news of their jailed relatives.

There have been a number of riots in Venezuelan jails this year.

Prisons in the country are notoriously overcrowded, with reports suggesting they are three times over capacity.

The Inter-American Commission of Human Rights has urged Venezuela to take action to tackle violence and insecurity in its prisons, and to protect the human rights of inmates.

The campaign group Venezuelan Prison Watch says 476 inmates died inside Venezuela's prisons in 2010.

The government had put a plan in place to reform the prison sector and had allocated almost $100m (?60.1m) for the task, said Mr El Aissami.

But he admitted that the government's efforts had so far not been enough to tackle "the sheer drama, urgency and complexity of the problems besetting the prison system".

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