ASUNCION, June 17, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – A riot at a prison in Paraguay left 10
inmates dead and 10 wounded, the interior ministry said Sunday.
Interior minister Juan Villamayor said that there was a “confrontation”
between “two feared criminal organizations” at the prison in San Pedro de
Ycuamandiyu, some 400 kilometers (248 miles) northeast of the capital.
“All of the dead belong to the narco groups,” Villamayor said.
One of the organizations involved is originally from the Brazilian state
of Sao Paulo, while the other is made up of drug traffickers from both
countries, according to authorities.
The riot began at noon (1600 GMT) and lasted for about three hours, at a
time when there were few guards.
Five of those killed on Sunday were decapitated and three were burned,
Villamayor said.
The unrest is the latest in a series of deadly prison riots to hit Latin
American countries, including one in Brazil that killed 40 people last month.