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For four days in the open, under a tree, the bodies of two prisoners from the El Dorado prison, in Bolívar state, remained until their relatives received a notification call.
This Monday, August 10, the bodies of Luis Ángelo Perozo Gil, 29, and Jesús Alberto Vergara Ortega, 26-year-old Colombian, inmates of the Oriente Penitentiary Center, known as El Dorado, and where they take the prisoners as a form of punishment, since ancient times.
Carolina Girón, director of the Venezuelan Observatory of Prisons, said that Perozo Gil had his cause established in the Lara state and was “one of the many inmates transferred from compound to compound and never return to their prison of origin.”
Historically, the El Dorado prison has been used as a place of punishment for inmates, because due to its geographical location it is difficult for relatives to visit them, in addition to the inhuman conditions in which the inmates survive.
“The population of El Dorado is 1,295 prisoners, most of them come from other states and unfortunately they fall ill or die due to official neglect,” Girón said.
Family members denounced that the prisoners are eating only rice or pasta, without any protein or other type of companion, which is why they have high degrees of malnutrition.
-Several inmates have fever, headaches and muscle aches. We do not know what they are dying of and we are afraid; the complainants explained. The two deceased inmates apparently had the same symptoms.
A relative affirmed that “El Dorado is a warehouse for human beings, the prisoners who send there are forgotten by the Government”, and although they allow them to send parcels, not all receive them.
-For those of us who are not from Bolívar state, it is impossible for us to travel due to the mandatory quarantine, those who are from that state cannot be mobilized either due to the lack of gasoline and they have told us that they charge a lot of money to travel to jail; said the familiar.
Three dead in 24 hours in the Phoenix
Due to malnutrition, tuberculosis and respiratory infection, three prisoners died in less than 24 hours in the Fénix Penitentiary Community in Lara state, due to the lack of medical attention and treatment.
Álvaro Alberto Hernández Levi (32) was held in the David Viloria Penitentiary, known as Uribana, and was transferred to Fénix Lara on July 9. He died on Sunday, August 9, in the nursing area, after presenting severe malnutrition and difficulty breathing.
His family found out from an anonymous call and were taken by surprise because they did not know he was ill.
On Monday, August 10, Ramón Enrique Sulbarán Bravo (61) died, who had been hospitalized since July 11 at the Antonio María Pineda Central Hospital in Barquisimeto. According to the medical diagnosis, he died of respiratory failure and pleural effusion.
That same day in the afternoon, Geomar José Ochoa (23) died, sick with tuberculosis.
And on Friday, August 7, Dany Ganzo (37) died of tuberculosis, who was serving a sentence in a prison in Carabobo state, for a total of six deaths.
“There cannot be one more death in the prisons of Venezuela. They are a vulnerable population that must receive immediate medical attention. On this occasion we mourned the death of six prisoners who were sick and malnourished, so we are concerned how many more will cry as the days go by as this situation worsens ”; the director of the OVP pointed out.
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