Venezuela's Chavez to boost prison construction
By IAN JAMES
The Associated Press
CARACAS, Venezuela -- Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on Friday said he
is instructing officials to boost prison construction after a 27-day
uprising by inmates highlighted problems of overcrowding and violence.
Chavez likened the problems in Venezuela's prisons to cancer, saying
dealing with them requires "deep treatment."
Days before Chavez underwent a cancer operation last month in Cuba,
troops stormed a prison near Caracas in a search for weapons, and armed
inmates began an uprising in response. The nearly monthlong crisis ended
on Wednesday when hundreds of prisoners emerged from the adjacent Rodeo
II prison after negotiations with authorities. Officials have said that
several inmates also escaped, including four who were killed by troops.
"New facilities must be built," Chavez said in an interview with state
television, adding that he has also decided to create a new Cabinet
ministry to oversee prison issues.
"Those old jails must be transformed," Chavez said. "Thanks to God that
this case was resolved."
He condemned corruption among prison guards and administrators that has
allowed a flourishing trade in guns and drugs in the prisons. "It's like
a cancer. We must fight against that," Chavez said.
Chavez announced on Friday that Peruvian President-elect Ollanta Humala
had just arrived for a visit. Chavez called him a brother in a message
on Twitter, saying "Let's give him the most patriotic of welcomes!"
Humala, a populist leftist and, like Chavez, a former military man, had
delayed his visit because of the Venezuelan leader's health.
Chavez told state television that he has been waking up at sunrise and
reading German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. He said he also has
taken up painting again and has been creating a landscape from one of
the windows of the presidential palace.
"I know there are people who are happy because they believe I'm dying,
that I'm going to die soon," Chavez said, "but those evil wishes are
part of that hatred ... That is erased like a tsunami of love by the
blessings and prayers of a nation, of millions."
http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/07/14/2314188/hugo-chavez-rallies-supporters.html
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