Global Courant
“The MS pimped at 18 and they went to take out their weapons and set fire to module 1 and burned to death.” Those were the audio accounts that deprived of liberty sent from their desperate cell phones telling and asking for help from inside the National Women’s Penitentiary for Social Adaptation (PNFAS) where 41 of the inmates died yesterday.
They were around thes 7:40 a.m. when the riots began inside the prison after women identified as members of the Salvatrucha gang began to confront those of the 18 gang.
And although the women are in different modules, they live close to each other, since the prison does not have extreme security measures.
After the insult of the women of the MS, the inmates of the 18 gang did not remain calm and began to grab mats, spraying gas on them and threw them into module 1 where their rivals were being held, the inmates who managed to save themselves said in their stories.
The fire began to spread rapidly due to the overcrowding in which they live and in desperation a group of inmates tried to save themselves in a bathroom, but they were burned and their bodies on top of each other.
The total prison population of the Pnfas is 1198 deprived of liberty. There are 22 children living with their mothers in the place
Other of the burned bodies were on the floor near the cabins where the women slept.
Armed
While the group of gang members from 18 attacked that module, others also took charge of going to module 2 where other prisoners were and shot them with pistols and rifles.
They also shot four women who were in the courtyard and tried to take refuge in a booth, where they were left piled up with bullet holes in different parts of their bodies.
“There are bodies in the corridors, in the patio and some wanted to flee through the walls, but they were shot and even hit with huge stones,” another of the women inmates described in another audio.
In module 1, where they burned to death and others suffocated, it is a closed place and inside the place there are groups of up to sixty women who share the space. When the 18 gang members attacked the MS gang members, the module was locked, as it remained that way and it also has bars, indicated one of the inmates.
41
Deprived of liberty died inside the jail, they were burned and shot in an attack that lasted about half an hour and the authorities did not prevent the tragedy
The women could not get out, they were screaming for help, others who were not from the gangs ran out and hid under their beds, but they were killed.
In that attack, which was no longer directed against the women who belonged to the MS 13 gang, Seneida María Ocampo, a National Police cadet convicted of the death of her ex-partner, died.
“My companions were left lying in the courtyard, one was Johana Midense and Nina, who was in charge of the module,” said one of the inmates, who stated that a huge stone was thrown at their heads while they were trying to escape through a wall.
Johana Midense was convicted of kidnapping and only had a few days left to go free, after having served her sentence.
The attack by the armed women lasted at least half an hour and, in addition to the shots, the smoke coming out of module 1 alerted the authorities who asked for support.
Fire teams managed to enter the compound an hour after the incident and managed to control the fire that had already consumed the bodies of many of the victims.
wounds
According to the report of the prison authorities, eight of the women who were hospitalized suffered gunshot wounds and others with their legs.
pain and waiting
The inmates themselves alerted their relatives and those of the victims, so they arrived outside the prison where they awaited confirmation of the death of their relatives.
Delma Ordóñez, president of the Association of Relatives of Prisoners of Liberty of Hondurasdeclared: “I understand that it is anger because the audit commission told them that it was going to deny that they continued to have televisions, electrical equipment, microwaves and that the people who had their businesses, grocery stores and other types of businesses, were going to be removed ”, he agreed.
Ordóñez reiterated that “this bothered them and it was the way they expressed themselves and said: here is what we do not like that is happening. I really don’t think that was the way,” he acknowledged.
The lawyer, Raquel Nuñez, said that the supervisory board knew of the danger that existed and on Monday they had been sent to say that they would make them operational and that bothered them.
“She would have sat down with the coordinators, but she should not do it in repression, it is not the way and if they are going to carry out an operation to let them know,” stressed the private lawyer.
Last night, the teams from the public ministry continued to examine the corpses, while the police took groups of women through guarded areas to secure them and keep them away from those incarcerated in gang unit 18, where those who committed the bloody attack are.
