CNN.com Friday, April 4, 2003 Posted: 1905 GMT ( 3:05 AM HKT)

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) -- A gunfight between inmates in a central Venezuelan prison left four dead and 10 injured Friday, police said.

The rioting broke out after prisoners in the medium security section tried to enter the maximum security area of Uribana prison in Lara state, 175 miles (280 kilometers) south of Caracas, said state police officer Victor Alvarado.

National Guard troops were dispatched to restore order. The injured prisoners were taken to a nearby hospital.

Riots are common in Venezuela's 32 overcrowded and understaffed prisons, where almost half of inmates are in pre-trial detention.

There were 244 deaths and more than 1,200 injuries in prisons between October 2001 and September 2002, according to the U.S. State Department 2002 Human Rights Report. Most of the deaths resulted from fighting between prisoners, the report said.

<a href=www.vheadline.com>Venezuela's Electronic News Posted: Friday, April 04, 2003 By: Patrick J. O'Donoghue

During a visit to Apure State President Hugo Chavez Frias says Venezuela needs a Judiciary that really administers justice and that does not side with the rich. In an obvious reference to powerful agricultural sectors of Apure, the President commented that there are cases of rich people who rape, rob and murder and never go to prison and if they do, they are let free within two weeks. 

Chavez Frias signed an agreement with local economic sectors at Apure State Ezequiel Zamora College to promote integral development, especially in grazing and forage quality, cattle, buffalo rearing, pig farming, fisheries and tourism. 

"We must free this State of feudal landownership." 

Guasdualito town will receive 5 billion bolivares for housing reconstruction projects and another 10 billion for 750 new housing solutions. 

• $2 million will be channeled into recovering the 64-kilometer Elorza-Mantecal highway and $4 million has been allotted to improving the Bruzual-Elorza highway. 

Storekeepers whose businesses were hit by last year's severe floods will also receive credits.

<a href=www.vheadline.com>Venezuela's Electronic News Posted: Friday, April 04, 2003 By: Patrick J. O'Donoghue

Andean Commission of Jurists has announced that it has sent a report to the United Nations Human Rights Commission (UNHRC) warning that President Hugo Chavez Frias attempting to monopolize State organs and institutions. 

Speaking on behalf of the Jurists, Venezuelan Enrique ter Horst claims that President Hugo Chavez Frias' insistence on carrying through his political project is fast losing the legitimacy he gained in winning two presidential elections.  " The absence of advances in government-opposition negotiations has kept alive the temptation among the radicals on both sides to seek a quick fix to the political crisis" 

Ter Horst proposes that the UN open a human rights observation post in Venezuela to investigate and generate confidence in an electoral solution. 

The former UN diplomat accuses Chavez Frias of: 

• Violating the principle of separation of State powers
• Placing unconditional supporters to head public institutions 
• Firing up social hatred 
• Organizing armed bands to attack opponents. "Last year there were 50 deaths and more than 700 injuries during pacific marches, sabotaging investigations into deaths of opponents"
• Using judges and state prosecutors at his service to politically persecute opposition leaders
• Allowing security agents or supporters to attack 200 journalists 
• Diverting the Armed Force (FAN) from its constitutional mandate
• Allocating exchange control permits at whim.

Enrique Ter Horst has been in charge of UN special missions on Haiti and El Salvador, as well as UN Adjunct High Commissioner for Human Rights (1998).

<a href=www.vheadline.com>Venezuela's Electronic News Posted: Friday, April 04, 2003 By: Patrick J. O'Donoghue

The Venezuelan media has unearthed a Venezuelan, currently fighting in the Anglo-American war on Iraq. Eugenio Jose Caceres (19) , son of Livia Caceres, was born in Maracaibo (Zulia) but has lived in the USA since 1987. He joined up for the US Marines two years ago after finishing high school in Stuart, Florida. 

The news report does not discover the reasons why Eugenio went to the USA in the first place nor does it delve into the realm of human interest regarding why his parents are in Zulia. 

What is certain is that on the phone Eugenio the Marine has a marked "maracucho" accent and that he is with the Marines in Nasariya (Iraq) where the first skirmishes broke out between Anglo-American forces and Iraqi troops. 

The Marine has two brothers Samuel (16) and Israel (14) and it seems the family belongs to an evangelical church. Mrs. Caceres says she's proud of her son, who phones home regularly ... "I  was surprised and apprehensive when he told that he was going to war." 

The family relates that it received a pleasant surprise when an unknown US citizen brought them  a basket of food on discovering that the son was fighting in Iraq. Mr. Caceres does not beat about the bush, saying he supports his son 100% and Sadaam Hussein is a criminal, who deserves to be overthrown.

<a href=www.vheadline.com>Venezuela's Electronic News Posted: Friday, April 04, 2003 By: Patrick J. O'Donoghue

Health safety groups have expressed concern about the outbreak of disease in Venezuelan prisons.  Miranda Penitentiary Services Foundation (Funsepem) president Jose La Rosa reports that hepatitis B, scabies and influenza are the biggest health problems that inmates at El Rodeo 1 and El Rodeo 2 face. 

La Rosa has  headed a team of doctors that visited the two prisons after a hunger strike was lifted.  "We have managed to get an agreement with Universidad Central de Venezuela Faculty of Medicine to attend the prisons."

Doctor Jose Leonardo Gonzalez says hepatitis B is hard to control, , given prison overcrowding and the fact that the disease is handed on through body fluids.  There is also an environmental problem in both prisons ... we have observed places where deadly fungi grows, abundance of green bottle flies,  and a lot of uncontrolled dogs and cats wandering around."