Breaking News - Reports: Dozens killed in Venezuela prison riot

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Dedwinson Alvarez / AFP - Getty ImagesMembers of the National Guard take shelter during a riot outside Uribana Prison in Barquisimeto, Lara state, Venezuela, on Friday. Dozens were killed in a classh at the prison, local media reported.By Reuters

Follow @NBCNewsWorld  CARACAS -- A jail riot in southwestern Venezuela killed dozens of people on Friday, local  media reported, the latest incident in the ongoing crisis in the South American  nation's crowded prisons.

Violence broke out after news of an inspection  to confiscate weapons at the Centro Occidental jail, Prisons Minister Iris  Varela said in a statement, without providing a death toll.

Local media  reports say between 26 and 54 people were killed and dozens wounded.   



A  prisons ministry source told Reuters that "many" had been killed, including one  national guard officer, but declined to offer more details. The source said the  ministry would hold a news conference on Saturday with details.

The  violence involved both a struggle between rival gangs for control of the jail  and a confrontation between inmates and troops called in to calm the situation,  Varela said.

Venezuelan prisons are controlled by armed gangs that have  rioted repeatedly over the last several years due to disputes with jail  authorities or prison leaders.

"Who is going to be blamed for this new  massacre in one of our country's jails? Incompetent and irresponsible  government," tweeted opposition leader Henrique Capriles.

The South  American nation's 34 prisons were designed to hold around a third of the 50,000  inmates now in them, according to local prison advocacy groups. Many of the  prisoners are armed and hundreds are killed each year in riots and gang fights. 

A month-long siege occurred in 2011 at El Rodeo prison, just outside the  capital of Caracas, when 22 died before some 5,000 soldiers restored order. 

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