Yes, Bob, you are certainly qefuiaild to judge the lack of planning, gross incompetence, cruelty and violence when you are probably not even in Miranda state. This whole episode is horrible but if the inmates were NOT armed this would not have occurred in the firs tplace.It's obvious that the GN allows gunds and drugs to enter the prisons and profit from it. There are enough psychos in jail who think that they can take on the GNB and hold out.Still, this disaster is nothing compared to the killing spree carried out in the Reten de Catis in November 1992 when at least 63 prisoners were slaughtered and later on in 1996 when 24 prisoners were burned to death in La Planta. This is without mentioning the slaughter in Sabamta in 1994. Interestingly enough the mayor of Caracas at that time was Antonio Ledezma ultimately responsible for the Reten massacre and in March 1997 it was demoloished with explosives so ending 3 decades of inhumanity.I mention these incidents in the 1990 s to illustrate to the most reactionary and antichavez readers that such incidents are not new in Venezuela, In 2009 the families of the reten massacre were still asking for justice. I note Mr. Ledezma did not say a word.You see, Francisco, it does not make eany difference if the prison system is overcrowded or not. The killings happened before and they are still happening now.I agree with JC for once what were the authorities supposed to do? Sit around a negotiating table.The other thing which stinks of hypocricy is that there was no condemnation of the recent beatings by Chacao police shown on video by the opposition or Globovision especially. Bit the case in the El Rodeo has Globovision cameras and photographers crawling all over the streets of Guatire. They are all all human rights violations and some are treated with more vigor than others by the opposition media. Bob cruelty and violence have always been the norm in Venezuela as far as prsoneers are concerned. Perhps this cuture of death all started when Bolivar declared la guerra a la muerte. Who knows?