62 held hostage in jail riot

2005-02-11 19:17

Buenos Aires - At least eight people have died during a prison riot in the city of Cordoba as hundreds of inmates held 20 guards and 42 other people hostage and threatened to throw some of them off the roof, officials said early on Friday.

Police said five inmates, two prison guards and one police officer had been killed in the rioting so far in Cordoba's maximum-security prison of San Martin.

Unconfirmed television reports put the casualty toll since the riot began on Thursday afternoon at nine dead and 30 injured, including nine police officers.

Police and army troops surrounded the facility as officials negotiated with riot leaders who are demanding reduced sentences and improved living conditions.

Television images showed dozens of armed inmates on the prison roof threatening to throw some wardens to the pavement below. One guard, stripped to the waist, was being held as knives sliced across his arms and legs. Smoke was billowing from inside the jail.

Provincial Penitentiary Service director Graciela Lucientes de Funes told reporters the convicts were also threatening to slash the throat of prison Warden Emilio Corso.

Cordoba Province Police Chief Jorge Rodriguez said early on Friday that in addition to Corso, the hostages included 25 prison guards and 50 people, mostly women and children, who were visiting the prison when the riot broke out.

But 13 hostages were later released, including five prison guards, five women and three children, authorities said.

Rodriguez said that "a large number" of the 1 800 inmates in the prison wanted to end the riot and free the hostages, but they were being led by a group of convicts serving life "who want their sentences commuted and with whom it is impossible to negotiate."

Argentine President Nestor Kirchner met with his Cabinet Chief Alberto Fernandez in Buenos Aires late on Thursday to assess the situation.

The riot erupted when a number of inmates brandishing knives, many with their faces covered, appeared on the roof of the prison. Later prisoners were seen carrying handguns, rifles and automatic weapons seized from the guards.

Three hours into the riot, a group of 16 convicts boarded a truck inside the prison compound and, using a prison guard as a shield, tried to break out but were confronted by police outside, the police chief said.

In the firefight that ensued the truck crashed against a tree and two inmates and a police officer were killed. Fourteen inmates were captured, one of whom was seriously injured. A prison guard was also injured in the shootout.

Cordoba's Attorney General Gustavo Vidal Lascano said negotiations with the riot leaders were proceeding calmly.

"We've reached a lull. A lot of them want to stop the whole thing and release the hostages tomorrow," he said.

However, Lascano said the negotiations were proving difficult because the reduced sentences some prisoners were demanding were "impossible and illegal" to grant.

- AFP